Lexi misses Japan.



(photo from Okinawa Soba's flickr)

Old Ladies

I had two experiences with two different stranger old ladies recently. It went something like this:

1. I was at work, and went to Zions Mercantile for lunch. My friend Chantelle was working, and so I was talking to her instead of ordering - nobody was in line, and I couldn't decide on what to order anyways. And we were talking about our affinity for the N Town Pageant. Well, this old lady comes in line behind me, and I could tell that she knew what she wanted so I moved out of the way. She thought she had butted in front of me! She was so embarrassed. I explained that I was just talking to my friend, I wasn't ready to order yet blah dee blah...but she wouldn't believe me! She kept saying she had been really rude by butting, no matter how much I assured her that it was completely fine. After she ordered and when I finally decided, I realized I was about 50 cents short. So I decided to change what I wanted. But she had overheard me and stuffed 50 cents in my hand.
"That's to say sorry for getting in front of you". It made me feel really good.

2. The final night of Vocal Point's performances, and the night that my dear friend Sarah got back from Utah, we decided to go out to Annie's Custard after the concert. All the people from the concert got there before us, and we were pretty much at the back of the line. Another family from our ward was right behind us, with a group of old people behind this family. The line was moving slowly. Then my friend Jordy, working behind the counter yells,
"I'm sorry everyone, but we just ran out of vanilla!"
grrr. The chocolate isn't as good. But oh well. Then I hear the dad of this family say to the old people behind us,
"Our family lives here, and so do the girls in front of us and so we can come get the custard another time. You can get in front of us, and I'm sure these nice girls will let you go in front of them too."
Oh well again. I wasn't super mad about it, but it wasn't my idea and I was forced into it...but you have to be nice to the tourists, right?. And what do you think happens? They run out of chocolate custard just after the old people. Not a drop of custard left. I was very very disappointed. And Jordy is a close friend, so I asked him if he had just one little spoonful of chocolate left (in a whiny voice). Then I realized an old lady from the group had heard what I said. I was rather embarrassed. She turns to me and it looks like she's going to apologize and make me feel guilty. But no. She says something in a rude voice about how we live here and they don't and we can come get some more anytime we want. After I had let her go in front of me...this just made it worse. Yes, I could come another time, but it was late at night, and we had been waiting in line for a very long time. I was cranky, and what she said did not help my mood at all. So I did a wincy smile and pretended that I didn't care. She didn't make me feel so good.

The moral of the story is, maybe the first lady I mentioned gets taken advantage of because she's so nice, but I want to be more like her - now, and especially when I'm a little old lady (I'm already little, so I know I will be one). I want the people around me to feel good after they've been around me. Even if it's a complete stranger in a restaurant or on the street that I don't know. None of this "I'll never see them again anyways" sort of attitude. And not that the second lady did anything horribly mean, and most of it was my attitude. But it still wasn't pleasant.