You Had Me At ‘I Love Your Hair!’

What is WRONG with some people?

Photo by Liuba Bilyk on Unsplash

I was in a Walmart store yesterday—true confession—minding my own business as I tried to navigate a store bigger than a football field, looking for whatever mundane thing I was there to buy. Oh yeah, a fitted sheet! I just remembered that now. Too late. I’m home already.

Overall, it was an exciting day chock full of adventure. Psst. I ran a red light and got away with it! But keep that to yourself.

So, there I was, a sheet-seeking missile, minding my own business, when along came a young woman. She was pleasant enough, but when she saw me, she stopped and stared.

What now? I thought, grumbly old boomer geezer, that I am. Are my underpants showing? Do I have mismatched shoes? As I have learned, life is full of unpleasant surprises, even here at Walmart in Pleasantville (pick any State below the Mason-Dixon Line).

“I just love your hair!” she exclaimed.

“Thanks,” I say, thrown off balance and unused to compliments from people I don’t know (even people I know), especially those decades younger than me. Then, suspicious but also a pleaser — we Boomers who are still around can be both! — I blathered on to tell her, sotto voce. “I got it cut at You Name It Salon. You know, over there in WhateverVille.”