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                                  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!] [1]


But as always, it could have been worse [2].

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?

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2015/09/25/parking.jpg
[2] http://www.transylvaniatimes.com/story/2015/09/21/news/woman-cited-after-plowing-car-into-front-of-cvs-pharmacy/24397.html

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