Sincerity and Social Expectations

I hate it when retailers ask "did you find everything okay?"  It is the most insincere question.  Have you ever tried saying no?  Upper management does nothing to train the measly cashier to reply to a negative response.  They fully expect everyone to respond with manners, not truth.

I went to Target today to buy Eduardo a birthday gift.  I fully expected to find a card and either a book or magazine in Spanish, because the Latino population is a huge part of their clientele.  I couldn't find anything and nobody could help me.

So when I told the girl that "No, I didn't find everything okay" she was like a malfunctioning robot.  Double blink and opened mouthed she muttered something lame like "I'm sorry".  I know it's not the cashier's fault, but it reminded me of a time I asked a telephone sales person from India an obscure question just to through off his script.  

As annoying as it is to be treated like just another customer and not worthy of personal attention, at least it is amusing to challenge the system with social experiments.

Eduardo

I have been practicing with my new camera. This is my favorite photo so far. This house belongs in a fairy tale.


Computer, meet Eduardo. We meet once a week and exchange languages. He pretends to understand what I am saying in Spanish and I (sometimes) correct his pronunciation. Mostly, we just talk and laugh a lot.

Rosca De Reyes

Please read my blog in Novemeber titled "Dia De Los Muertos" before continuing to read this one. Yesterday's conversation with Pedro was similar, except I had never heard of the custom he was describing.

According to Pedro, every Jan.6th the peoples eat bread with "candies on top" complete with Jesus inside. The peoples who find the baby Jesus in their piece of bread will have good luck for one year. He continues to tell me that the peoples then put their shoes under the Christmas tree in hopes that the three wise men (from the bible, I'm gathering) will put toys or money in them.

I'm thinking to myself. Aren't the Holidays long enough with Thanksgiving extending into Christmas and then to drag it out until New Year's Day? Apparently not for the Mexicans, they really know how to party.

Pedro offers to take me to the Mexican Paneria to see the special bread. The paneria sounds fancy and European, but really it is a convenient store packed to the ceiling with plastic toys, pinatas, packaged food that doesn't look like food, Mexican cd's and an entire wall of calling cards. There is a line 20 people deep and I equate it to going to a florist on Valentine's day. The bread is stacked to the ceiling on the counter and comes in three different sizes and is not cheap. It looks like a french roll with a fruit cake twist. When I look closer to the toppings I ask, "are those onions and peppers on top?" I thought this sucker was supposed to be sweet. I had to buy one.

When I get home, Brandon won't even touch the foreign bread, which is okay by me because it means I have a 100% chance of having the good luck this year. ha ha SUCKER! Except, when I cut into it ,the first thing I notice is that I am actually attempting to cut the head off the tiny albino baby Jesus fetus. Do you suppose that is good luck?