Earlier during the lunch hour I ventured north a couple of blocks to get a haircut and go shopping for fruit. I ran out of fruit a couple of days prior and have been sort of craving for some for a while now. There’s nothing like a cold, crisp, sweet, juicy apple, right? Like I stated about a month ago, Chinatown is a really good place to get produce. Although, things are a little bit more expensive this time of year in comparison to even a month ago. Back then I was able to get 5 Gala apples for $1. Today they were priced at 3 for $1. It’s still pretty decent, if you ask me. Today’s haul was 3 Gala apples, 3 Fuji apples, 6 fuyu persimmons (seem to be more common in colder months), and two small containers of blueberries. To balance out the healthiness of it all I also bought a small box of chocolate Pocky, which I went through with my colleagues faster than I had anticipated.
Anyway, while I was waiting to check out, into the store came this shabby looking woman. I didn’t want to stare, because that would have been rude, but my first judgment of her was that she was mildly unstable. I wouldn’t have paid her any more attention, but she started doing some eccentric things. She looked off to the side and went “AHA!” She reached for a canister of powdered cleanser as if that was what she was looking for all this time. She peeled the protective flap open, poured a tiny bit into her hand and proceeded to sniff it. I think for whatever reason she wasn’t too happy with the product because she put it back muttering something about it not being what she wanted. Right next to it was a canister of Old Dutch cleanser. She took that, popped it open, poured a little out and started snorting it. At this point, the cashier spotted her and start shouting with a bit of an accent: “Hey friend! What are you doing!” You could tell she was annoyed. Rightfully so, too. Who the hell sniffs cleanser? The shabby woman replied, “I’m buying! What does it look like I’m doing?” As she turned around, she revealed her face which was covered in powder like some sloppy junkie, or someone who greedily ate a powdered jelly donut. The cashier rolled her eyes and proceeded to talk to the other cashier in Mandarin (or was it Cantonese…I swear I still can’t tell), likely about this crazy ass woman. The woman queued behind me to buy her Old Dutch, muttering something about people taking away her welfare cheques. All I could do was smile at the cashier, acknowledging that yes, I witnessed the craziness as well.
Just another day in the big city, I guess. *shrug*
No related posts.
4 comments
Erin says:
Fri. November 20, 2009 at 12:29 am (UTC -5 )
A few years ago, I would have been terrified to come across someone unstable like that… now I work with them. Funny how things change. Now if I catch someone doing something odd like that in public I usually check to see if it’s one of my clients, and if it’s not I just ignore it.
Jay says:
Tue. November 24, 2009 at 2:50 pm (UTC -5 )
I was absolutely the same way. I hated venturing into the city before because I felt it was all too unpredictable. Over time though I just got used to it. It all adds a certain charm, I suppose. Most of the time they’re all just harmless anyway. To borrow from Cesar Milan, all you need is to project a calm assertive energy and everything will be just fine.
wegrit says:
Mon. November 23, 2009 at 11:36 am (UTC -5 )
That is AWESOME!
Jay says:
Tue. November 24, 2009 at 2:51 pm (UTC -5 )
For me, what made this awesome is the face full of powder and not having a care in the world.