I was at the mall. I was there to buy bumper stickers. The items were rather reasonable. The shopping experience left me disenchanted. I wouldn't say it was a bad day really. I would like to think that I am broadly speaking an optimistic kind of guy. It's not often that I outwardly whine about anything. Suffice it to say that I wouldn't go to the mall on my own. You might even say that shopping is the very last thing I would ever like to do, even if my arm was twisted. Apparently, my wife just scares me though. Especially when she really would like me to do something. There's a glare involved.
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I think that people in general are overly negative. If your outlook is bleak, all it gets you is another strike against you in a situation that you do not like to start out with. It makes no sense. I dislike shopping intensely. But how high can searching around in order to buy bumper stickers actually rate on the annoyance meter for anyone rational? There is most definitely a scale of irritation. Compare a broken TV to a broken television because it falls on your toe.
I got a first hand view of a negative outlook on everything growing up. My dad was like that. All through his life, being irritated was his trademark style. Interestingly enough, by many of the same issues that get me going. He would never tolerate an entire day of looking to buy bumper stickers though. I know there would have been trouble at the very thought. There would be no end to how he would have carried on about it being a waste of his time to look to buy bumper stickers. Which would have zero to do with any particular product. Being out of his comfort zone, and having to look for anything was a recipe for a catastrophe with him. I don't believe I ever saw the man put on a stitch of clothing or a pair of shoes that he didn't get for Christmas. Most of the family thought dad was quite a bit extreme.
Even though I can't help it that I share some of his feelings on the matter, I am better about it than he is on his most tolerant day. If I desperately need some personal item, I will go out to buy it. Spending a second of your time being truly annoyed over the need to buy bumper stickers is no way to live, in my book. He had a disagreement with my mom over that once. A good way to explain things would be that it was enough of an incident for me to remember it, but not enough of one to have made me uncomfortable. They were just not getting along. For some reason, he went on the drive with her on that specific occasion, but he would not get out of the car for anything. Not even to help her with the bags as she was heading back. She tried to pull him in, wanting the company, and he just refused.
She dug into him by comparing him to me, as far as dedication goes, and telling him that I went around with her.
I did not even think that was a fair argument, really. You can never say whether someone that young really likes or dislikes anything a parent does. There was just no other choice, end of story. Thinking back on it, I think the dynamic between the both of them in my formative years is probably the reason that I am opposed to shopping now. I was bred to dislike looking for goods. My father's response to her that moment was in all probability what sealed the deal.
"There is a very easy explanation for that, my sweet. Very simple," he replied. "The kid is a nut!"
Their silly banter ended there. After that comment, my mom just went on, into another shop with me in tow. Thinking back on that day, I would really like to drag that old man into a store with me right now and force him to browse through a thousand of these things in a quest to buy bumper stickers! Everyone's a comedian.