Eyore

There was a drug store in my town that closed a few months ago. I hated going there because every time I went I was treated like a second-class citizen. On one occasion a clerk behind the counter ignored me completely and asked the man behind me if she could help him. “Um, I’m standing here, too,” I said to her.

Silence. I felt like I was in one of those movies where I’m dead and don’t know it – she never acknowledged me, even after I spoke.

Another time I needed to pick up some photos. The same clerk was there and I asked if my order was ready. She asked my last name and I told her.

She flipped through the envelopes and said, “Nope. It’s not here.”

I glanced over her shoulder and said, “Really? Because I see my name right there.”

She shrugged and handed the envelope to me.

These are just two of the incidents that had me loathing that place. On the third occasion, I was searching the aisles for a particular item and couldn’t find what I needed. I saw one of the sales people and said, “Excuse me?”

Again, I felt invisible. The woman completely ignored me. I sighed and began to follow her. “Excuse me?” I said. Again, nothing. “Excuse me?” I said louder and louder. At one point she glanced over her shoulder and then continued to walk quickly ahead.

Are you effing kidding me? I thought to myself. “Miss!” I said. “Miss! I know you hear me!” I must have looked like a lunatic following this woman through the store. But considering my history with this place, I had finally found my breaking point.

I trailed the woman into the office where she went. The room was clearly off-limits to customers but I didn’t care. She stood in the room next to another woman. “Excuse me!” I said. “Is there any reason you are ignoring me?” The young blond woman who was with the salesclerk came up to me and said softly, “Can I help you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You can start by telling me why she ignored me when I was calling her.”

The woman pulled me aside and quietly said, “She’s deaf. Is there something I can help you with?”

Imagine if you will, one of those cartoons where the main character turns into a huge jackass. That was me at that very moment.

“Oh, my God,” I said. “I am so embarrassed and so very sorry.”

I explained my history with the employees at the store and the woman kindly responded, “Oh, I see. Let me get the manager for you.”

As if I wasn’t humiliated enough.

The manager came over and I explained my horrific behavior to him. I apologized profusely at first but then said, “You can imagine why I thought was being ignored. It has happened here a few times before.”

The he began to apologize and I felt even worse. I caught the eye of the woman I chased and said, “I’m so sorry.” She gave me a puzzled look. I realized she had no idea I was so angry about being ignored. “It’s okay,” she said. “Don’t worry.”

Ee-aw!