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The Young Man Stared at Me Blankly

TRUE STORY 

I called my favorite grocery store to place an order for lemon pepper chicken wings—my “go to” quick and easy dinner. I asked if they could have the wings ready at 4:30 and the man on the phone said, “No problem.” I arrived at 4:30, walked over to the counter and waited. And waited. And after several minutes, a young man came over to help me.

“My name is McDermet and I’m here to pick up my order,” I said politely.

The young man nodded and turned around to search for it. He looked through several orders and then disappeared into the back. Minutes passed. When he emerged, he came to the counter and asked, “Do you know what you ordered?”

I thought it was an unusual question but I answered honestly. “Yes, I do.” And then I paused. And the young man stared at me blankly. 😶 I let a minute pass just to add suspense. 😉  And the young man stared at me blankly. 😶  So, I told him, “It was an order of chicken wings.” He nodded again and then disappeared into the back. Minutes passed.

An elderly gentleman had stepped in line behind me and after a few more minutes, he asked me, “Is there anyone back there?”

I nodded and said, “He’s gone to the back to find my order.”

When the young man reappeared, he was empty-handed. He came up to the counter and said, “One of our ovens is not working and the other one is having some issues and blah, blah, blah, blah.” (He really didn’t say “blah, blah, blah, blah” but that is what I heard. 😬)  

When he finally stopped explaining, I said, “So, when I called in this order and the man told me the wings would be ready at 4:30, he really didn’t mean what he said.”

The young man stared at me blankly. 😶 He was stumped. He did not know what to say. So he began to repeat, “One of our ovens is not working and the other one is having . . . “

To relieve his confusion, I interrupted him by saying, “I was being facetious.” Apparently this word was not in his rich vocabulary because the young man stared at me blankly. 😶 So, I came to his aide: “How long will it be before they are ready?”

“Well,” he said, “I think probably maybe about like 20 minutes.”

To which I said, “So . . . will it be 20 minutes or probably maybe about like 20 minutes?” 😉

The young man stared at me blankly. 😶 He was confused. So, I added, “I’ll be back in 20 minutes.” But then turned around to the gentleman behind me and added, “Or probably maybe about like 20 minutes.” To which he laughed. Finally! 🙄 Someone got my humor!!  

So today I am thankful for people who laugh at my jokes.  And lemon pepper chicken wings—which were totally worth the wait. 🙂

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