This morning I needed a newspaper so after an unsuccessful walk around the block to see if a neighbor had one I could take I jumped in my car and drove to the nearest gas station. When I walked into the convenience store I didn't see any newspapers by the cash register so I thought I'd ask for help instead of wandering the store myself. (The store wasn't big--I'm just especially lazy these days).
Me: "Do you guys sell newspapers?"
Female Convenience Store Worker: "Newspapers?"
Me: "Yeah."
Female Convenience Store Worker: "I don't even know what those are so probably not."
Me: [Stunned silence]
My first thought would be that she misunderstood what I was asking for, but she repeated the word "newspapers" after me. I know reading the news in print is declining in popularity these days, but come on. I am still so confused.
3 comments:
Wait. That really happened? "I don't even know what those are."
Um. Seriously? I don't even know how that is possible. Even if English was her second language. "Newspaper" was one of the first words I learned in German. I would love to conduct an experiment on this. Where is this convenience store?
She didn't have an accent, so I'm afraid English is her first language, though perhpas she never learned to read it. It was the Maverick where 300 South crosses State Street in south Provo.
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