august 25th 2008 monday 11:21 pm today i went to this small grocery store just outside of the city because i was nearby. i wanted to have salad for dinner, but i knew that i didn’t have any lettuce in my refrigerator. going in i expected that they would not have the kind i like- pretty much anything besides crisphead (iceberg) lettuce. i was right. sitting next to heads of green and red cabbage were packages of chopped iceberg. i eyed the produce to the left and right hoping to find some other type of lettuce, but only saw the cabbage and nearby fruits. defeated and slightly disgusted with the package in my hand i decided to find something i knew i enjoyed. in a small wicker basket was various naked juice products. kind of odd to find in such a small grocery store, but i didn’t think too much about it at the moment. i’ve never had the blue machine (which is blueberry / blackberry / banana puree + apple juice) so i picked that up. i walked to the checkout and passed three lanes that had a ‘closed’ sign. i ended up at the last one with this very old woman behind the register. she swiped the lettuce across the scanner and then the naked juice. the screen said something along the lines of “non-existent product” which maybe means they didn’t put it in the system? i’m not sure. she asked another employee to find the price for her. he looked at the drink, sighed, then went off to find where it was located. i was going to point him in the right direction before he left, but the woman said something to me. i turned and said, “excuse me, i didn’t catch what you said.” she didn’t say anything. she just looked down at the bottle twisting it to the side to read the little description. the guy returned and said, “3.25.” then he stood at the end of the check-out lane and stared at me. he didn’t glance at me. he stared. i stared back hoping he would stop staring at me in the process. he didn’t. i slowly turned my view to the cashier who was putting in the price of my drink. she was slow. at the time i wished she was faster. if it weren’t for the creep staring me down at the moment i wouldn’t have cared. she could have taken a whole minute on just that item and it wouldn’t have been such a big deal because 1) i was the only one in the store besides this old man who was checking out frozen foods 2) i wasn’t in a hurry 3) i am polite. but no, it mattered today because like i said, there was this creep just staring at me. she put the drink gently in the bag next to the crappy crisphead lettuce, smiled with ancient wrinkles beginning to form on her face, and told me to have a good day. the guy took the bag and handed it to me telling me to ‘enjoy the healthy drink.’ i walked off, but glanced back. he wasn’t staring back this time because his back was turned. in my head i envisioned myself sticking my tongue out at him even though he could not see me. in reality, i realized that would be a very silly thing to do and i don’t think i’ve ever stuck my tongue out at anyone anyways. i headed out.