Friday, September 25, 2015
Crazy Town
It was a crazy day today.
I had two tasks—drive to the local apothecary to pick up a prescription, then head to a local food establishment to obtain some provisions. So I'm pulling out of the driveway at Chez Boca when I see an amusing sight.
Now, Chez Boca is one house shy of the corner, so we're at one end of the block. Our neighbor righ across the street from us has a friend who comes over every Friday to hang out. Said friend lives at the other end of the block. I saw said friend drive from his house some 500 feet to our neighbor's house. I'm always amused when I see that.
Things proceed normally until I start to turn into the parking lot of the local apothecary. There's a driver who appears to be trying to turn into traffic, thinks better of it and starts to back up into the parking lot! I didn't think I was driving that fast that the best course of action was to back away from me as I approached. A few furtive glances, some wasted moments as we try to gauge each others actions, a revving of an engine and I'm past that obstacle.
Then there's the car parked haphazardly not only across two parking spots, but the end of the car was sticking out about halfway.
Sigh.
But that's nothing compared to this parking job:
![[This person managed to park perfectly in the handicapped walkway between two handicapped parking spots. That takes real skill!]](/2015/09/25/parking.jpg "This person managed to park perfectly in the handicapped walkway between two handicapped parking spots. That takes real skill!")
But as always, it could have been worse.
Once inside and at the pharmacy, I was behind a woman who appeared to be in the process of purchasing a large number of candies and several large bags of chips. As the total was being rung up, the woman was getting more and more agitated as it appeared she did not have enough cash to enact the transaction. The pharmacist kept asking if she wanted to remove this item or these items, and each time the total still managed to exceed her ability to pay. A few minutes of this and the woman asked if she could go back to her car and search the seat cushions for change. The pharmacist said that was, indeed, fine. I was then able to obtain the prescription and leave the local apothecary.
At the local food establishment, I gave my order, two number elevens. The cashier punched a few buttons. I then said, “I'll take an unsweetened iced tea for the first order, and a chocolate shake for the second order.” The cashier stopped and looked as if I'd sprouted a second head.
“The first has an unsweetened iced tea, and the second has a chocolate shake,” I said again.
The cashier then proceeded to void the entire order. “You want?”
“A number eleven with an unsweetened ice tea,” I said. The cashier punched a few buttons.
“And?”
“A number eleven with a chocolate shake.”
A few more buttons were punched. “Okay, that's an unsweetened tea and a chocolate shake.”
“Um … could you repeat that order back to me?”
“A number eleven with an unsweet tea and a number eleven with a chocolate shake.”
“Yes.”
That done, I was handed a receipt to await my order.
“Hey, who ordered the sweet tea?”
Before I could answer, someone else behind the counter answered. “That was an unsweet tea!”
“Oh.”
Some moments pass. “Hey, who ordered the unsweetened tea?”
“I did.” Some more moments pass. “Um, I also ordered a chocolate shake.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Several more minutes pass. I was then handed a tall cup topped with whipped cream. “This is a chocolate shake, right?”
“Yup.”
I left quickly and fought my way through rush hour traffic. As I was driving up to Chez Boca, I saw our neighbor's friend driving 500 feet from his house to our neighbor's house. Again. I'm always amused when I see that.
And the chocolate shake turned out to be a vanilla shake with caramel flavoring.
Is it a full moon or something?
