Maybe I am guilty....

I went to Walgreen's this morning and bought some medicine.  I said no to a bag (Captain Enviro-Friendly I am!) and said no to the receipt (Captain Ignorant I am!).

I walked out of the store, opened the package and the medicine inside was old and clearly used.  (The saftey seal was off and everything.)  I went back in (no more than 2 minutes had passed) and asked to exchange the product I had for a new one.

Confusion ensued.  Included in that confusion was the manager's claim that he could not exchange it because he didn't believe that I had bought it there (sans the receipt).  I can understand it.

The checkout clerk named Sally, seemed to go Sammy Sosa steroid on my and not understand anything I was saying.  The manager "went in back" to check something.  Perhaps the video of the store or whatever.  Several minutes later, he came back and replaced the product for me.

As I was standing there waiting I was thinking, I am totally innocent here.  Yes, others might take advantage of the system but I am being honest.  How else could I tell him it was true?  Perhaps because the way I looked (jeans and a long sleevel shirt), the way I talked, the way I whatever but he would not believe me.  Perhaps he had been burned before or he had been warned of this in Walgreen's manager training.  In any case, he was afraid that I was lying.

I was presumed guilty in spite of my innocence for no valid reason.  In fact, he was so sure I was guilty it seemed that I started thinking "Maybe I am guilty.  Maybe I actually did try to "plant" this bad medicine to job the system.  I must be, nothing else makes sense".  However, I knew he considered me guilty primarily out of fear.

I felt, for a VERY brief time, what it must be like to black.

Comments

[Naomi the Strange]

oh my. that last sentence got me. i can't even imagine...