Going Bananas at Tesco!

Ok, so this is one to keep me humble. I was shopping at Tesco and, as I so often do, I was carrying my list of items, checking them off one at a time, adding the price beside the item.

Now, I know you're thinking, "Wow, what a conscientious person." But, really, if I don't do this, I end up going to the check-out counter with all my stuff and not having enough cash in my wallet to pay for what I picked up. It has happened to me.

It's embarassing when you have to ask the poor check-out guy, "Could you please put that back? and add it up again?" ...and "...oh and could you also put that back and add it up again?" Then, "Still too much la? Ok, put THIS back."

Last time I had to put back my nice fresh-looking brocoli. But, anyway, all that to say, I was shopping and checking items off my list. It was a very long list. (I like to get value for my taxi fare by buying everything in one trip, too.)

I had made one trip to the scale. (Oh, you guys in the West don't know this, but here in Malaysia, you have to take your produce to the scale to get the price marked on it before you check out at the cash. That's something we USED to do in Canada when I was a kid. Did I date myself?)

So, I'm totally absorbed in "The List" and I'm standing there at the scale, having passed something to the lady and totally forgotten WHAT I'd handed her. But, when I saw this Indian man pick up his bananas, I thought I suddenly remembered what I'd handed her. I suddenly put out my hand and shouted at the man!

"WAIT!"

He looked at me like I was insane. Truly insane. (He could have been at least partially correct in his thinking.)

"Are you SURE those are YOUR bananas?" I asked, thinking to myself, "You PEOPLE are so stupid, you don't even focus on what you're handing to the scale lady. You should probably pay more attention..."

But, something about the way this guy is looking at me begins to open an area of consciousness I had been unaware of. Then, it suddenly dawned on me!

He had his bananas in one hand and a strange, insulted look on his face and I quickly said,

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

He didn't say a word. Not one word. Either he was too shocked or just couldn't speak English.

And he's gone. Poor man.

(I mean, it's not like I was mad at him or anything. In my mind, I was actually problem-solving, thinking he'd accidentally picked up the wrong item since our items were being weighed at the same time. Easy mistake. But, it could be that I had that "English Teacher authority" in my voice or something because, he stopped dead in his tracks when I spoke to him. Of course, how often does a Canadian woman walk up to you in the supermarket speaking English in accusing tones? Like: never.)

And I'm feeling like an idiot. Which is not unusual. It's the same way I felt today when the chicken lady was making a chopping motion to me. She was pretending she was mute or something and I'm standing there shaking my head, pretending I'm mute. We're both looking like idiots. I even said something in her language and she ignored me. She was really into the mute thing. So, I got into the motioning too. Waving my hands to shape a perfectly uncut roasted chicken. "Satu." and "Bole." (Meaning, "one" and "can" because in Malaysia, everything is "bole".)

Yes, so as he's walking away and I'm bleary-eyed and blinking at "The List", I finally, FINALLY realized that I'd weighed in my bananas previously. I was the one who hadn't been paying attention. After the rather unpleasant altercation with the Indian man, the scale lady held out the item she had priced for me. Heck, I STILL can't remember what it was.