Award Winning Performance...

Do you ever have a memory that for some reason or other will stick around forever... even if you don't want it to? Well, that's the case here. Over twenty five years ago I had the gem mine located in an Erie Plaza. There was a UPS driver whom everyone in the Plaza got to know, and thus dubbed him, "The Little Old Lady", due to his propensity for gossip. One day, he had just dropped off a load of packages which I signed for, he commented that the girls in the Yuppie Hair Salon next door, were unhappy with their purchases (from my store) of gemstone bracelets, made the day before. Although my instincts told me that he was merely trying to "stir the pot", I caved to curiosity, and walked to the Hair Place to ask them in person. The owners husband happened to be seated at the counter (he was known for constantly hanging out in his wife's salon to 'check out the other women'). As I quizzed the puzzled girls to make certain that they were happy with their purchases (and they were), the owners hubby, in his most practiced Harvard Intellectual Dialect stated: he was far too busy to listen to his beloved employee being harassed. I was dumbfounded and started to politely explain the situation involving the gossipy UPS Driver, when, without warning his chair tipped over backwards and he fell beneath the counter. Quickly, he lost his erudite drawl, and began a tirade of expletives, which left customers shaking their heads.

The next day I was approached by the UPS Driver who blatantly stated that he heard I had assaulted the Yuppie Guy from the hair salon. I chose the high road, and refused to comment on the situation, knowing full well that he again, wanted to get something started. This infuriated the Driver, and later I was told that it equally infuriated the Yuppie Hubby. Their pride was forever damaged.

In the long run it has taught me a 'life-lesson' about people. It revealed their pretentious behaviours. their internal drives to irritate, and above all, their innate ability to turn things around on innocent people in order to justify their foolish exploits.

I thought of a contemporary parallel to my 'nagging' incident, just the other day, when hearing how a certain grandmother (of national acclaim) is cleverly altering her story regarding her daughters alleged murder of her own little tot. In a taped pre-trial hearing, the grandmother, held everyone from the investigating police to the attorneys, responsible for her daughters 'reprehensible' , not to mention, 'criminal behavior'!

What a shame that we now have grown complacent to living in a world where the guilty are 'so' well versed on turning things around. Twenty Five Years Ago it was few and far between with seemingly small and insignificant incidents, like that which I experienced. Today it is the 'norm' complete with Academy Award Winning Performances, and overt collusion from family and friends.