The Deli Lady

I’ve come to the conclusion that the lady behind the counter at my local deli and convenience store just does not like me and I don’t know why.

She is an older lady, very short and, in a weird sort of way, looks a bit like my mother if you ran my tall, attractive, Norwegian mother threw a compactor.

I’m a smiley person and general friendly to everyone including strangers so it is a mystery to me what I could have done to offend her.  She has never even given me the chance to offend her.  She never speaks to me.

This has been going on for all of the 10 years that I’ve lived here.

But the other day we reached a new level.

With 4 young cousins visiting me from Austria I was going through a lot of bagels and pastry.  They wanted an American experience and bagels seemed to be it.  So I stopped into the deli after dropping Jake at school.  There is a counter behind the checkout that holds two trays, one for bagels the other for pastries.  Next to the trays are three stacks of paper bags, small, medium and large.  I reached for a large bag and was greeted with  “That’s a big bag” in an unfriendly tone from the short lady who never speaks to me.

I smiled and said “ I know, I have cousins eating me out of house and home and I need a lot of bagels.”  As I was filling the bag she spoke again.

“You’re not going to take all of them are you?  There won’t be any left for anyone else.”  ……………….

I kid you not.

Have you ever been in a store where the clerk didn’t want to sell you something?  There was no one else in the store to even sympathize with me.  No one to share a “can you believe this” look.

In a meek Minnesota fashion I put back half of the bagels and replaced them with pastries.  As soon as I got in the car I called Craig.  He got a laugh out of it but he also made a suggestion.   Had I ever thought of asking her what I must have done to offend her?  So the next day when Jake and I again missed the bus by a mere minute and I drove him to school, I stopped in to the deli.  There she was in all her glory, short, stumpy and angry, three of the 7 dwarves rolled into one.

I smiled and picked up a small paper bag and said in my most charming voice “ How many can I buy today?”  She said nothing.  We were again alone in this small country store except for the deli guys behind the counter in the next room.  So as I placed my bag on the checkout counter I said very sincerely “I’m sorry, I just have to ask.  Have I ever done anything to offend you, because it feels like I have?”

She looked up at me and said…………”No”  with the most deadpan face and voice and went right back to punching buttons on the cash register.

Not another word.

I took my three bagels home to my hungry Austrian cousins.