Getting Busted For Failure To Buy

LIKE MANY MEN, I don't like shopping, especially in crowded stores. But when I know exactly what I want or need, I brace myself, and dig in. And, like many men, I have a sense of independence, stubborness and determination which deters me from asking for directions or help. (Life is a highway, and a road map). I can waste gas and time finding my destination, and even more time and footsteps wandering around a store, looking...looking. Then too, people in low wage retail jobs often seem rude,annoyed, or unable to render assistance. Sometimes they're harder to find than what I'm looking for. Determined to buy some new Christimas lights and a new drinking mug with the name of my favorite college athletic mascot emblazened upon it,I entered a "Dollar General" store, convinced that said items might be or would be in stock,and that,at length, I could find them. No such luck. I don't give up easily, and thirty minutes later, I still had an empty basket. Belatedly I became convinced that no such items were on the shelves, and I noticed that not only was the Christmas stock depleted with empty shelves, but that the plastic kitchenware, drinking and eating items, included no collegiate motiffs. Five days before Christmas, the store was obviously going to sell all its Christmas themed merahandise,and not restock it. Disinclined to purchase something that I don't currenty want or need merely to be a good, paying customer,I replaced my shopping basket,and left the store,empty handed. On several occasions over the past few months, the same scenario has played out in the same store: Into the store, unable to find my cat's favorite brand or flavor of cat food, a T shirt with my college team's name on it, a pair of cheap sandals, or some other item, and after a prolonged stay of fifteen or twenty minutes of failure, back out to my car, empty handed. That's not normal. Ninety nine percent of shoppers in dollar stores enter the store, pick up a few items quickly, pay, and get out rather fast. But they always buy something. Apparently my stubborn, parsimonious, unusual behavior either angered, frightened,or aroused the suspicions of somebody, and they took down my license plate number, called the police, who sent a very pleasant young officer to my home to inform me that I must not enter the store ever again. Unorthodox behavior is not allowed! I assured the pleasant officer that I would gladly, fully comply. I can understand the store's point of view, and I can understand mine even better. We Americans are a nation of preferred conformity. One's behavior must be kept within a certain of options to avoid suspicion. You don't want to be guilty of being black, for instance,and walking or jogging after dark in fashionable neighborhoods inhabited by affluent "white" people. If you are, you may be arrested, shot, or both. Once, long ago, a lawyer told me that banning someone from a store which serves the public merely on grounds of suspicion is illegal. Who knows? Maybe I'll try a test case... My red ball cap which says "Make America Greta Again", a reference to both Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump, invariably inspires glowering, glaring looks from the liberal side of the political spectrum, and unwarranted, unwanted approval from the Trump right. I assume that nobody in America has one except me,and nobody but me likes it. Now, I only wear it at home, although I paid twenty dollars to have it specially made. I think its rather clever. But, alas, it fails to conform to societal expectations. (If only people would take the time to read closely!) Instead, they presume what it says, wrongly. Often, when people ask me the obligatory question, online or in person, "How are you"? (I am convined that nobody really cares, and that the question is nothing but habit, because most people pay no attention to my often creative, unusual responses)...so,I respond as tersely as possible, to got to the point and avoid elaboration. I say one word: "well", meaning, I am doing well". Evidently, that's the wrong thing to do,the wrong thing to say, because almost invariably it confuses people. Sometimes they say:"well...what?". I never respond to that. I think I'll continue giving my one word answer, because its honest, to the point, and reasonable, if incomprehensible to the mind of one who is unable to grasp any behavior contrary to normam expectations. ( should say "fine", but won't)... But I think I'll do less shopping,and, never again in Dollar General. They never seem to have what I want or need anyway.