This week, I have been doing my best to get settled in my new home and get Mr. Wookie back on schedule. Mr. Wookie has been on vacation down in Virginia for the past few weeks with my Dad and stepmother. They ruined him. It was obvious as soon as we got to the W Hotel in TimesSquare when he HAD to sleep on the bed. Evidently he started this habit at the house and goes through a complete foot wiping ritual after enjoying the great outdoors.
Mr. Wookie had been a model pup until he decided to ‘christen’ my new apartment. I had to make a quick trip to Safeway across the street to stock up on doggie and Soulsista supplies. The store didn’t have the doggie clean up stuff I was looking for but had a lot of other interesting stuff. In Virginia, Safeway had aways been your regular, run-of-the-mill, grocer. This one was comparable to a Whole Foods, with multi color produce perfectly stacked and aisles extending to the ceiling full of organic food. They even had a respectable, self serve olive bar, my benchmark for a fine grocery experience. I pushed my cart in the wrong direction by the deli counter, and immediately apologized for my mistake. Behind the counter was a young guy, about 25 years, that had channeled his inner “blipster“. The gentleman behind the counter replied with something like,” That’s perfectly alright, darling, you can come down here whichever way you want.” Reading this you probably would assume that it was a pick-up like of sorts. But it wasn’t. It didn’t have THAT vibe. I smiled and kept continued on to the olives thinking, “Could it be that the rumors are true? Are people really nicer outside of NY?”
As I continued to roam about the store to get my bearings, I bumped into another young employee, and steeled my self for the eyeroll, grunt, or toothsuck that I had come to expect. (On a crowded NY Subway one day the motion of the car caused everyone to bump into each other. One girl put me on notice telling me that if I bumped her one more time she would cut me. No kidding.) What came was a, “Pardon me.”
Finishing my shopping trip, I went to the checkout and met with a very colorful, chatty cashier. I felt my City facade melt away as we engaged in conversation. This was actually the physical sensation I experienced standing in line. Its odd, when I lived in NYC I was convinced that New York wasn’t as intense as people said it was. Afterall, I did just fine. Perhaps after living there for so long I gradually built up a barrier to my inner person that i didn’t realize existed. Could it be that I have become the hardcore NYer that non residents describe? Or is it that people in San Francisco are just happier? I don’t know, but I am certainly digging the fact that when you speak to people, they actually want to engage you in conversation, with a smile!!
No comments:
Post a Comment