Thursday, March 30, 2006

Blessed are those who can't speak

A trip to the pharmacy this morning turned out to be most upsetting. While I was busy packing the basket full of stuff on my list, I overheard a small commotion near the hair products section. I turned and saw a slightly plump sales promoter talking impatiently to what seemed to be a happy, smiling man. After a few seconds I realized that this man was, unfortunately, not blessed with the gift of speech. The woman obviously couldn't converse in sign language either. While he was trying very hard to convey what he was looking for - which had to be some kind of hair product, this woman was getting more and more irritated. Before he can finish explaining, through a series of body/hand/head movements, she snapped and yelled, "APA?" ("WHAT?") He was still smiling and again tried to explain what he wanted. What did she do next? She walked off. I waited to see if she was going to get help. Nope. She walked off and proudly stood by another aisle. I turned to look at the man. He didn't seem to mind that tactless behaviour at all. Perhaps he was used to such rudeness. He continued in search for what he wanted with a smiling face. I'm sure that sales promoter had better things to do for the next 10 minutes (besides displaying her annoying self in front of the cosmetics section) than to help a man who's less blessed.

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