I was taking the dog for a walk today and decided to stop in at the Annex Hodgepodge up on Dupont and pick up some lunch. Chili. A chili kind of day, a chili kind of season, in fact.
An Indian woman of about 50 came in after me. She had long salt and pepper hair that fell to her waist and she wanted to know if the place was vegetarian. Considering herself a people person and very much wanting the new business to succeed, the girl behind the cash launched into a jubilant description of all the vegetarian dishes. The Indian woman listened for a bit and then laughed, admitting that she actually wanted something with meat in it. Somehow this was a winning comment, and everybody in the place smiled, discovering that this woman was not what they had presumed she was.
Basking in the goodwill and flush with confidence, she began to talk about the previous menu, which had been a failure and necessitated a re-brand of the operation. It was her opinion that it contained too much starch and too many potatoes. The owner was there, and he indulged her. Smiling weakly, he agreed with everything she said. She went on about the potatoes at some length, stressing that she had told them they had too much potato in the menu but they didn’t listen, and well, you see what happened? She then went on about how it was supposed to be her day off, but she had to come in because somebody else wasn’t doing their job, and then the potatoes again.
She was sitting on a stool during this, and at one point decided to lean down and pet Heidi, my Daschund. She got a happy and receptive greeting, just like she did when she entered the store, but then she leaned down suddenly, as if reaching down to unscrew the dog’s head and Heidi recoiled and snarled at her, hackles rising.
This made me think of the woman’s life. How whenever a little bit of goodwill or grace entered into it, be it a receptive little dog or a store full of smiling people, this woman, just out of synch, had to press things just a little too far, always alienating and eventually irritating those around her. Imagine the complaints she must take home daily, how heavy even the air most feel to her.