Well, no actual stumble, I'm just continuing the "Rumble at..." tradition with my own twist. :-)

The other day, I went across the street from my office to a mall to get me some food. (The mall is one of the oldest in the country, actually, and you can see it to the left in the linked picture. My office is in first floor of the building on the right.)

It's cold here in Oslo now, but since it's just across the street, I seldom bother to put on a jacket, and I didn't this time, either.

The grocery store is down in the basement of the mall. At the top of the stairs, there is a semi-permanent stand where "Dinner Card" make their offer known to potential customers. The "Dinner Card" deal is this: Two can eat for the price of one once in every member restaurant over the course of one year. (I'm having trouble remembering if this use of 'course' is a valid and/or understandable way of saying it in English. Feedback appreciated. :-) For this you pay about $50, which is quite a good deal. You only have to bring a spouse or friend a couple of times to have earned back the fifty bucks, and you get to try out many new restaurants for half the normal price. (The deal is just for the food, though, so anything you drink is full price.)

I'm in their target market group. When I had a girlfriend, we were members, and enjoyed it. I'm not a member anymore, though, and don't want to be. Since I'm in the mall quite often, I'm quite often a subject of their attention, but I always just smile, shake my head and wave them off while I pass them in a hurry. Although this is no big sweat, it's getting pretty annoying in the long run.

This time, as I went up the stairs, I got eye contact with one of the two salesmen, and I could see him getting mentally prepared to try and sell me a membership. As soon as I came within conversation range, he started asking me his standard opening question. "Excuse me, do you eat out now and then?" or something along that line.

"OK. Do you see this?" I pulled my sweater in front of my chest. "Do you see that I'm wearing only a sweater? Can you engage a few of your brain cells and try and figure out what that means?"

First, he gave me a puzzled look. Then, a frown. Then, you could see his realization dawning on him, by the rising eyebrows.

"Yeah, right," I continued. "Either, I work in this building, or just across the street or somewhere really close. And where have I just been? What have I just bought?"

He looked at the biscuits and banana I was holding in my hand. His face turned slightly red.

"Yes, I've been shopping some quick snack food. I work either in this building or somewhere nearby, and have just popped over here to buy me some food, as I OFTEN do. You know what this means, don't you?"

Now his face was approaching dark red, and beads of sweat emerged on his forehead.

"It means that I'm pestered by you guys almost EVERY TIME I'm in here! And I'm getting SICK OF IT! If I had wanted to become a member, I would've had a HUNDRED opportunities before THIS ONE!"

Now he was cowering behind the stand, whimpering.

"Next time you see someone with no jacket on them, please use your brain and LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

---

No, actually I smiled, shaked my head and waved him off as usual. About two minutes later, when I had thought a bit about it, I wished it had all gone down like this, though.


Trav"ahh, the good thing with the RinkForum is that you can vent the things you're too slow-minded to carry out in real life"holt.