I was saying, “Sir! What in the world is going on here?”
I was leaving a store that specialized in selling some of the best (in others’ and my own opinion) technology, these days.
Normally, other people’s ratings don’t affect my opinion much: I wait to make up my own mind. With this particular store, however, that specializes in selling some the best technology, I’ve waited long enough to become its customer — and a devoted believer in its product.
So, I was leaving this particular store that specialized in some of the best technology, these days, when a man with a Portuguese accent caught up with me, in the doorway. He was wearing a baby-blue polyester shirt, with white-lettered “Brazil” tattooed over his left breast.
I was in the midst of texting one of my artistic friends about my recent purchase (as of five minutes ago), when the creature patted my elbow:
“‘Scuse me, miss?” he said.
I turned: He stood at my eye level (and I — was wearing flats). Somehow, I must’ve gotten hung up on his height, because I forgot to respond. The creature proceeded to tell me that he was working for the company whose product I had just purchased and he pointed to my cellphone.
Honestly, I couldn’t understand the gist of a single sentence he spoke. Perhaps, there weren’t any sentences at all: Just fragmented thoughts expressed with a hysterical tone.
“A scam artist!” I thought immediately and hid my recent purchase (as of ten minutes ago) inside my purse. My cellphone hadn’t hit the bottom of my bag yet, when the mistrustful Soviet citizen in me was already on the forefront. With a deadpan expression of someone who had been fooled way too fucking much in her life — and who had finally learned her lesson — I studied the hysterical creature, fussing at my eye level.
“May I see your phone?” he said to me.
“May you blow me?” I almost responded. Yet, I obeyed the call of my grace and said:
“No, you may not. Sir.”
The man in a baby-blue polyester shirt got immediately aggravated and reached for my elbow again.
“Please, step inside the store, miss!” he slurred, with his wet mouth. His further, fragmented explanations followed; yet still, I couldn’t understand the gist of a single sentence.
Full-blown wrath was now heating up the contents of my scull, and I felt myself blush that horrific blood-red shade of the Soviet flag: I was about to blow. Still, I obeyed the call of my grace and shot an “S.O.S.” gaze to the sales rep guarding the door of this particular store that specialized in selling some of the best technology, these days.
“Why are they allowing for solicitors, here?” I thought.
But the face of the clerk, although indifferent at first, was now getting twisted into an expression of shock and slight disgust.
The grip on my elbow tightened. I looked over: The short creature was hanging onto me, like a pissy Chihuahua. And there was something hateful, something very violent coming through on his face.
“Do you get laid much?” I almost asked. Yet, I obeyed the call of my grace and said:
“Sir! What in the world is going on here?”
More of his fragmented thoughts followed: Something about receipts, and blue stickers; and something about theft.
“THEFT?!” I echoed.
A few curious or disgusted glances bounced off my skin: This particular store that specialized in some of the best technology was packed due to a release of a new, better — best! — gadget, that week. So, the scene unfolding between me and the short creature in a baby-blue polyester shirt was now getting plenty of bystander witnesses.
Had it not been for the tiny salesgirl with angelic blond curls and Scarlett Johansson’s voice dashing across the store, I suspect this scenario would not have turned out well: The wrath boiling the contents of my scull was beginning to blur my vision and raise the decibels of my voice.
“Sir!” she said. “What is going on here?”
Amidst the fragmented thoughts that the short creature began spewing out at the girl, I was beginning to hear my verdict:
You see: Having obeyed the call of my grace, I had asked this salesgirl to email me the receipt for my purchase, so we could “save the trees”. The creature in a baby-blue polyester shirt was a security guard, and this particular store that specialized in the best technology, these days, was going through the highest degree of theft, in its history. Since I had no receipt to present to him, I became his obvious target for the day.
The two of them began sorting the situation out: That same tiny salesgirl had sold me my recent purchase (as of twenty minutes ago), and she was testifying on my behalf. It was her fault, she said, that she hadn’t followed through with some other procedure in the case of customers with altruistic intentions as mine: Customers that insisted on obeying the call of their grace.
Apparently, she — was still in training. And she was “SO sorry!”
The short male, still hanging from my elbow like a pissy Chihuahua, was quiet.
“Sir! Please let go of my arm!” I slowly annunciated through my clenched jaw.
Once released, I scanned the faces of bystander witnesses. They, along with the sales clerk guarding the door, had long lost all interest. At that moment, utterly ashamed and disgraced, I could’ve blown. Instead, I obeyed the call of my grace and walked out.
LOVE WITH V-NESS 