Yeah, I don't have time...for this.

So this past week, Cookie decided that he really needed a new pair of shoes.  It's not a capricious decision.  Cookie buys shoes only when Cookie needs new shoes. 

I hate going shoe shopping.   I hate the entire process.  Hated it when I was a kid, too.

In my mind, I know what I want, but the stores never have it.

Anyway, I had a pair of Merrill's that are maybe six years old and I really love them.  They're just a pair of slip-on shoes, but they are awesome.  I wear them around the house and they are so comfortable you forget they're on.  But alas, Merrell no longer makes these. 

So a neighbor said that there is a Merrell store at Arundel Mills, the "outlet mall" down by the airport.  No anchor stores.  But it has a casino.

Anyway, I drag myself down there - about a half hour drive - park the car, and having never been there, I picked a door and walked into the mall. It took a good ten minutes to get from the door at one end to Merrell's store at the other end.

I go in and I look and they have nothing at the outlet store that I want (Suprise) but a guy has to do his due diligence, right?

Now before we go any further, that day, I was wearing a ball cap, a pair of ratty old jeans, a ratty old mock turtleneck from L.L. Bean and a fleeced lined hoodie from a Farm and Fleet store in Ohio that I bought when they went out of business.  In other words, I look heterosexual. 

Dressed as I was, I got out my iPhone and started looking for the nearest REI, which had the shoe closest to what I wanted, and while I am waiting for the map to come up - because I know nothing about that part of the region, someone walks up to me.

This someone says, her very best "ohmygod," voice: "OK, I hate to interrupt your phone time but you to go in the back and find me this shoe," which she hands me, "in a size five."

This Chippy doesn't look up from her phone, she is dress like Arbutus' version of Arianna Grande, and a cheap looking Arianna Grande at that.

I start to say "Miss, I don't..." when she puts up her hand and says "Don't tell me what you can't do, just get IT done," in a perfect vocal fry.

Now, maybe she saw me, maybe she had those laser-focused eyes of her focused on the phone, but you don't treat anyone like that.  ESPECIALLY retail workers.

So I asked her to have a seat, she replies with" "Look, I don't have all day. I don't have time...for this."  And with her hand, she does a brush off move, like I was a gnat. 

OK, I'll be right back, says I.  And I head to the exit.

As I am leaving the store I said to the clerk "There's a brat over there who needs help."

And I left.

During the drive home, it got me wondering, about entitled people.  Where does that entitlement come from?  Is it a function of being in an outlet mall?  Would this have happened if I were in a Nordstrom?  And if I were in a Nordstrom, or Lord and Taylor, or Bloomingdales, would have any of the employees even asked me if they could help me dressed as I was.

I still don't have an answer or anything profound to report back.  I also don't have that new pair of shoes I need, either.

One conclusion is that I miss the Midwest.  I don't think I will ever acclimate to the harshness of people here.  There is no reason for it.  Baltimore calls itself the Charm City, but Charm has been something that is in short supply.

There is a lot of anger here.  There is a lot of crime.  And a great deal of insecurity.  All of that could be in play.  And I suspect that there are a whole lot of people who look at me and ask "Why does he get to live in a ratless neighborhood?'

But then again, this young woman's problem is that deep down, she is an utter bitch.  Just one of those Chippy's that buys a dog because its a fashion accessory, or snarls at children who are playing and loving life, or someone who sees some who is homeless and hates them because they "homeless" and that, not their condition, annoys her.

Or, she's just an utter bitch. 

And no, I don't have time for her.