I should not ever buy hot chocolate again.
This morning I stopped at a gas station to get a cup of hot chocolate. I was standing in line behind a woman who kept turning around, smiling at me, shifting her weight back and forth and obviously wanting to talk to me about something, anything. I smiled politely at her, but was really not in the mood to carry on a conversation, I barely had any sleep and I was thinking about how hard it was going to be to get through the day. However, I should have engaged her in some kind of small talk, because she took it upon herself to have a conversation with me that I was NOT happy to have.
After turning around to face me approximately 73 more times, this woman decides to lean over the stack of Washington Post, grab the top paper and show me the headline.
"Did you see this? Hillary is still in the race!" She exclaimed as she shoved the paper in my face.
Oh no, she didn't. She did not just start a conversation with me about politics in a gas station coffee shop before 9am. Now, to be fair to this woman, we are in one of the most politically central areas of the country, and there are probably many people who would want to talk politics anywhere at anytime, I however, am not one of those people.
Though I was ticked, I didn't want to be rude, "Oh wow, I was extremely curious how Ohio and Texas would side, that is interesting." I smiled benignly and took a step away from this woman, hoping she might get my drift. Um. NO.
She continues on: "So did you vote for Hillary?"
WHAT KIND OF CRAZY ARE YOU? You do NOT ask a total stranger how they voted, that is rude, and for me it violated all kinds of stranger boundaries. I don't mind one bit talking about who I voted for with close friends and family, but I am not comfortable having this discussion with an absolute stranger. People in this town, on both sides, are crazy insane when it comes to political views, and I would just rather keep my mouth shut, thank you very much.
I stutter in my response "Uh...Er...Um....No." Not that it is ANY of your business.
Again, not getting the DRIFT she asked: "Oh, did you vote for Obama? I find that a lot of young people are voting for Obama and a lot of older women are siding with Hillary."
Yes. I voted for Obama, but what if I hadn't? Supposed I was backing Huckabee, or what if I wrote in my own vote for my cousin Ricky Bobby? Whose business is it? Not YOURS gas-station lady!
I just stared blankly at her, asking her to please shut up (in my mind) because she is getting on my last nerve.
"You did vote for Obama didn't you? What is it about him that is so appealing to all you young people, I don't understand."
Clearly, I was not getting away from this woman anytime soon. "Yes, I voted for Obama. I like him more than I like Hillary." I was not about to get into health care reform and NAFTA with this crazee and I was hoping my answer would make her realize that I have no desire to talk about this with you, so SHUT THE FREAK UP.
"Oh! I used to vote that way too! I voted for Bill Clinton because he was so cute, which was a perfectly awful reason to vote for him. Good thing that worked in my favor! So, I understand about voting for someone because you like them, but you'll learn, overtime you'll vote for someone because of what they represent."
Gee. Thanks for judging me. So far I have tried to refrain from judging you, but you are making that pretty darn hard at the moment. I never said I didn't believe in what Obama represented, I just said I like him more than I like Hillary. Also, in case you haven't noticed crazy-gas-station-lady, I have barely responded to this conversation, so perhaps it's not something I am particularly into. Ever think of that? NO. Because you are too interested in spewing your mouth off, and don't care if you offend someone or not.
This lady went on to lecture me a bit more about how I should vote and that Hillary has some great ideas about health care reform that we should all pay attention to. Luckily, the coffee line started moving after crazy lady's last soap box speech and I was able to move away from her, but she did manage to tell me to vote about the issues one last time. And I did manage to roll my eyes at her, but only after her back was turned, because I am a big scaredy cat.
My God. What is it with people who think that everyone around them wants to hear how they think? That drives me up a wall.
After turning around to face me approximately 73 more times, this woman decides to lean over the stack of Washington Post, grab the top paper and show me the headline.
"Did you see this? Hillary is still in the race!" She exclaimed as she shoved the paper in my face.
Oh no, she didn't. She did not just start a conversation with me about politics in a gas station coffee shop before 9am. Now, to be fair to this woman, we are in one of the most politically central areas of the country, and there are probably many people who would want to talk politics anywhere at anytime, I however, am not one of those people.
Though I was ticked, I didn't want to be rude, "Oh wow, I was extremely curious how Ohio and Texas would side, that is interesting." I smiled benignly and took a step away from this woman, hoping she might get my drift. Um. NO.
She continues on: "So did you vote for Hillary?"
WHAT KIND OF CRAZY ARE YOU? You do NOT ask a total stranger how they voted, that is rude, and for me it violated all kinds of stranger boundaries. I don't mind one bit talking about who I voted for with close friends and family, but I am not comfortable having this discussion with an absolute stranger. People in this town, on both sides, are crazy insane when it comes to political views, and I would just rather keep my mouth shut, thank you very much.
I stutter in my response "Uh...Er...Um....No." Not that it is ANY of your business.
Again, not getting the DRIFT she asked: "Oh, did you vote for Obama? I find that a lot of young people are voting for Obama and a lot of older women are siding with Hillary."
Yes. I voted for Obama, but what if I hadn't? Supposed I was backing Huckabee, or what if I wrote in my own vote for my cousin Ricky Bobby? Whose business is it? Not YOURS gas-station lady!
I just stared blankly at her, asking her to please shut up (in my mind) because she is getting on my last nerve.
"You did vote for Obama didn't you? What is it about him that is so appealing to all you young people, I don't understand."
Clearly, I was not getting away from this woman anytime soon. "Yes, I voted for Obama. I like him more than I like Hillary." I was not about to get into health care reform and NAFTA with this crazee and I was hoping my answer would make her realize that I have no desire to talk about this with you, so SHUT THE FREAK UP.
"Oh! I used to vote that way too! I voted for Bill Clinton because he was so cute, which was a perfectly awful reason to vote for him. Good thing that worked in my favor! So, I understand about voting for someone because you like them, but you'll learn, overtime you'll vote for someone because of what they represent."
Gee. Thanks for judging me. So far I have tried to refrain from judging you, but you are making that pretty darn hard at the moment. I never said I didn't believe in what Obama represented, I just said I like him more than I like Hillary. Also, in case you haven't noticed crazy-gas-station-lady, I have barely responded to this conversation, so perhaps it's not something I am particularly into. Ever think of that? NO. Because you are too interested in spewing your mouth off, and don't care if you offend someone or not.
This lady went on to lecture me a bit more about how I should vote and that Hillary has some great ideas about health care reform that we should all pay attention to. Luckily, the coffee line started moving after crazy lady's last soap box speech and I was able to move away from her, but she did manage to tell me to vote about the issues one last time. And I did manage to roll my eyes at her, but only after her back was turned, because I am a big scaredy cat.
My God. What is it with people who think that everyone around them wants to hear how they think? That drives me up a wall.
posted by Al at 7:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home