A Guy Named Al

Have you ever looked off into the distance and found a set of eyes staring back at you?

I was in Walmart earlier today picking up a few items when I came across a friend of mine from previous employment. Like I do with everyone I see that I used to work with, we chatted for about 10 minutes catching up on new endeavors and changes that have happened in our lives since we all lost our jobs. It was at the tail end of the conversation that my sight line drifted off into the distance.

Intending on staring off into space for a moment before saying my farewell, my attention was immediately grabbed by a man standing by the deli counter staring at me.

At first I couldn't place the face. How do I know this guy? His face so familiar to me that I just knew I knew him from somewhere, yet, I had no idea where! I wondered if he were thinking the same thing.

I was almost at the register when it hit me.

He and I worked at McDonald's together, many MANY moons ago, and he had developed a crush on me at some point. Although I never really had any feelings for this guy, I did keep a straw wrapper he had tossed at me and glued it into a scrapbook I was keeping at the time.

Black Tuesday

Not a single, solitary sale today....

I hate days like that. The minutes seem to just crawl by, 3 hours feels like an eternity.

Phone Lady was in again today, with all her usual charm and grace. After greeting her in my required 60 second time frame I was curtly told she was just window shopping and she immediately pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. Her conversation could be heard across the store, but Phone Lady never cares, her only mission in life is to prove to others how important she is via the cell phone.

"May I try these on please?" Phone Lady asked, holding out a few clearance items she had snagged from a rack.

"Sure, let me start a fitting room for you," I smiled, totally faking it. This woman is a pain in the ass every time she frequents the store.

Several moments pass when I hear Phone Lady asking for my assistance. She is peeking out the fitting room door and asking me if I can exchange some capri pants for her, she is looking for a size 12.

Size 12?

I look at her, look at the size 10 capri pants she has given me, and I have to fight to keep opinions to myself.

The woman is CLEARLY not a size 12, she would have to drop half her body weight to be a size 12.

"This woman is totally in denial," I laugh, rolling my eyes, and head over to the clearance rack.

"You're starting to catch on to things around here," Bev says, chuckling over my comment.

Needless to say, Phone Lady did not actually find anything that fit her 'just right' today.

A fashionista in the making?

Once again I've taken on the task of cleaning out my closet.

Or, should I say black hole?

I've quickly discovered my closet could easily pass for a vortex of no return. The deeper I go, the scarier it gets. At one point I thought I had unearthed Jimmy Hoffa......

It was amazing to discover that I actually have an entire empty shelf once I removed the mountain of discarded price tags and accumulated buttons and extra lengths of thread that accompany each new article of clothing you purchase.

The one highlight of the experience was when Baby Fashionista came hobbling out of my closet with a pair of nylons draped around her shoulders like a scarf and a silver ballet sandal on each foot.

Like Mother, like daughter....

Late for Class

For the first time since the semester began, Mr. WS was actually 5 minutes early for class today.

Oddly enough, half the class was not there yet.

After making an initial observation about how several people were not there yet, I curtly commented it was probably because he's always late for class.

"I'm never late for class," he replied.

"You've been late every time," I returned. The whole class was silent. I really don't think anyone knew what to do.

"Well," he looked at the clock, then looked at his computer screen, dismissing me.

Several moments pass before the rest of the class showed up, each one with a startled look of surprise on their face upon discovering Mr. WS was ontime today and they were the ones who were late.

Who knows, now that he's gotten the hang of 'being on time' he may decide to branch out and actually create a syllabus for us too.