I was out with the in-laws yesterday on an adventure to the distant land of Steveston. This is a strange town that time forgot, lost somewhere between seaside tourist town and the alien invasion. A town where the streets are desolate but the Starbucks is a bustling hub. I'm quite certain that the entire populous was there sipping grande non-fat extra whip tripple shot macchiatos and trying to forget that they live in the 'burbs. I am also almost positive that the people of this town were either alien pods from a distant planet, or they thought that we were. Either way they did not take kindly to the arrival of our rag tag company. No sir. They were not having any of it.
Our first destination was the only open thrift store in the city (keep in mind it was 4pm on a SATURDAY) and it was the only open store in the village for that matter. So we walk in and search the store for vintage goodies! I went straight to the ceramics and loaded up with some super 1960s stoneware plates with a yellow and brown circular pattern and two very cute bird planters, when all of a sudden...
"WE'RE CLOSED. GET OUT."
"Ummm. Okay. Do I still have time to buy these?"
I'm being ignored.
"Excuse me. Can I still buy these?"
I'm still being ignored, and now she's turning off the lights. Her cohort comes barrelling towards us shouting.
"WE CLOSE AT 4. IT IS WAY PAST 4. WE'RE CLOSED. YOU HAVE TO LEAVE. NOW."
"I'm not buying anything from here. Let's go."
The situation escalated with a shouting match between the employees (who apparently start work at 6am and are very tired, too tired to apply any customer service past 4pm) and everyone else. Holy crap! I couldn't believe it. We're nice people. Why was this happening?
We then decided to get some food. It was a mediocre meal, the service was poor, and we were charged the sucker rate of 3 dollars more per dish. More arguing of injustice insued as we tried to explain to the resteraunteur that their menus were deceiving and that the price charged was not what was stated in the menu. Again. We're nice people. Why was this happening?
We decided to walk it off down by the sea shore. Ahhhh. I heard stories of the day before's adventure, where everywhere the family went they were treated so well and everyone was happy and smiling and ever so nice! So what was different this day?
It's me isn't it.
