four men

Today certainly ended up being an interesting day in Lynne-land.

I was woken up at 7:30 this morning and one of my managers at B&N wanted to know if I wanted to come in at 10am to do an 8-hour shift. Mind you, I hadn't gone to bed til 2:30 that night. In my foggy non-morning oriented mind, I agreed, which I was regretting an hour later when my alarm went off to tell me to get ready to go. I really shouldn't be trusted to make decisions in the morning.

In this 8-hour shift that I magically got myself through, some interesting things happened:

1) A guy from Austria bought a book about Film Festivals. When I asked for his ID for a credit card purchase, the woman he was with had translate what I said. He seemed to know English well enough to say "I am from Austria. This is my traveller's license." He then pulled out this slip of pink cardstock that looked all official and stuff. On the inside was all the identification I need including a picture that looked like he cut it out of one of his family albums. I love it when foreigners come to the store. It's so fascinating and just makes me want to go visit their native country.

2) Another man that I rung up simply defied the conventional standard for Redlands. He was probably in his mid to late eighties, he walked with a cane, and adorably donned a fedora that looked like it came straight from the 40's. I was a little shocked by his selection: a book on gay culture in art, a book about contemporary gay culture, and two books of gay erotica that unapologetically had men with big guns and six packs displayed on the covers. It was fascinating, because this man didn't look anything like the two most prominent gay stereotypes of bear or flamboyant. I couldn't help but smile.

3) The third man of the evening that purchased books from me was a sight to see. He caught my eye immediately because he was an exact replica of Matt Kletzing, if Matt were 45 years old, 2 inches shorter, and 50 pounds heavier. The hair was EXACTLY THE SAME. And his face shape and facial bone structure were eerily similar. It was weird.

4) I had this conversation with my coworker, Drew, as I was clocking out.
"Are you leaving?" he asks.
"Yup."
"But, but...I need you. To survive."
"I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before"
He laughs, "What? You think I'm - "
"Completely full of BS. Yeah."
"Well, I'm full of a lot of other things too."
I cringe, "You know, I could take that as quite innocent or as really really sketchy."
"Oh definitely sketchy."
"Well, I usually do."
"Good."
I start to walk away.
"See you later," he says.
"I hope you survive."