Can I Ask You A Question?

Apparently I have a look about me that tells strangers that I'm open to conversations and willing to answer their questions. The idea of this post came to me long ago during a visit to a lab to have blood taken and after last night's incident at Meijers I decided it was time to write this post...

Many months ago, I went to the lab down the hall from my PCP to have my blood drawn. After I was done, the very chatty phlebotomist says, "Can I ask you a question?" Well, let me tell you I'm a very nosy person, so of course I wanted to know what she had to ask, plus no matter how much I would like to be I just cannot be rude to strangers unless I'm in a really bitchy mood or else they have irritated me already. So of course I said yes and then immediately regretted it! The question was: "What is a good amount to spend for a girl's birthday present?"

Now mind you...we had already discussed the fact that she had 4 kids, 2 of which are girls, and I had 1 boy. I don't know what is a good amount to spend for a girl's birthday present!! I don't do girl birthdays and I'm kind of cheap! I gave my opinion that $15-$25 was probably a good range. Thinking I'm home free I was stopped with a follow-up question, "But what if they only spent $3 on a gift for your daughter?" I did the whole...you don't want to punish the child for her parents lack of money or class if they have money and choose to spend very little on the present. She continued with another issue and when I shot that down with what I thought was a reasonable contribution that would get me out of the lab, she had another and another and another. After more than thirty minutes I wished her good luck and walked out.

Now fast forward to last night...I decided to go ahead and get my lunch meat at Meijers instead of driving to the meat market today just to get a small amount of lunch meat to make it through a three day work week and before I get my hands on some left over turkey & ham from Thanksgiving Dinner. That was mistake #1. Mistake #2 was responding to a fellow shopper when he asked how I was doing. Mistake #3 was saying yes when said shopper asked if he could ask me a question, because his question was "What is wrong with America today?" WTF?!? I thought it was going to be something along the lines of lunch meat or condiments or something to do with a deli counter...not "What is wrong with America today?" When I said, "Excuse me?" I was on the receiving end of a dissertation about this 52 year old's inability to get accepted into medical school, his time in Cincinnati, a book he read by some author about the Southern Bronx, his parents, his view on Republicans, 9/11, the Iraq War, etc...these are only the ones I remember. This went on for an hour, I swear to God!

I know what you are saying, "Just walk away j'lynn." Um, yeah...I did that. He followed. At one point I wondered how much time I might get if I stabbed him in the eye with my pen! He followed me around the bakery section, the vegetable area and the fruit area. I wondered if I needed to call security but he wasn't really being inappropriate...just trying to carry on a conversation and expound his theories and conspiracies upon a person. I was finally able to escape after I began yawning...okay, it was more than just the beginning of yawning and more like consistent yawning. He then walked away saying how some day maybe we will run in to one another at the coffee shop. I walked away in a hurry mumbling how I didn't drink coffee and immediately headed to the feminine products area hoping he wouldn't track me down there so I could leave the store without the fear of a stalker following me home to tell me more about his views on WWI, WWII, and the Bush Administration~that includes both I & II.

Maybe now I will learn my lesson...when a stranger asks if they can ask me a question my answer will be "No!" I'm not nosy enough to like people enough to have wasted an hour and a half of my life with them over their craziness!

Accomplished: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, & 19

Started: 8

Undone: 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, & 20