CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
SIX CAMELS FOR YOUR WIFE, SIR…
“Is that your wife?” the Omen* citizen asked the West Virginian I’ll call Tom.
“Yes, she is my wife.”
“I’ll give you six camels for her.”
Tom declined the offer.
Tom and Joan were on a cruise to the Mideast. Their bus passed a desert area where the women were totally covered except for the slit of their eyes and their fingertips. There was a line of camels off the roadside. The driver stopped and told the tourists they could get off the bus to have their pictures taken with the camels.
Tom further explained that a few days earlier his wife had visited an Asian beauty salon where the beautician didn’t speak English and Joan didn’t speak the Asian language. The net result was that she entered a brunette and exited a blonde, a hair color which she retained well after the cruise ended.
While Joan posed with a camel, the Omen man approached her and gently ran his fingers over her golden curls, after which he offered Tom his barter.
Later, Tom wondered if he should have bartered—perhaps the Omen man believed his wife, whom I’ll call Joan, was really worth ten to twelve camels.
He also wondered what the logistics would be had he accepted the offer. How many camels would he be allowed to keep in his cabin? Where would the other camels be kept? What would he feed them? Would he be allowed to keep them on his property in Southwestern Pennsylvania?
This story entertained me while I volunteered at a Ligonier Valley (PA) Historical Society fundraising event, the Festival of Trees. There were only a few persons visiting the event at the time. While I was talking with some of them, Tom asked me if I wanted to hear a story. Since camels are reported to have been present at Jesus’ birth, and are an item in every Nativity set, it seemed appropo to hear a story about camels.
Bizarrely, though, the afternoon included four more camel stories.
Camels seemed to like Tom’s wife. On another cruise, this time in Australia, Joan and another female traveler accepted a camel ride.
“Camel rides aren’t smooth, like horse rides,” Tom noted, elaborating that when the women dismounted the camels at the end of their ride they were vibrating. Even so, each woman claimed a camel cheek and stood there stroking it. The women invited Tom over to join them.
“I noticed the camel’s mouth was juxta-positioning to spit,” Tom said. “Since the camel was giving me the eye, I knew it was preparing to send a burning spitball at me. I backed off.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Watch out for camels or they’ll spit on you when you aren’t looking!”
There are two misrepresentations in the statement above. First, camels do (more…)
Paying the Penalty for Retail Theft and Deception
Tags: Advertising, All, All posts, COMMENTARY, Community, Contemplation, Culture of deception, Deceptive business practices, Diary, Integrity, JOURNAL, Journaling, Latest post, Life, Lifestream, Lifestyle, Marketing, Memoir, Misc., Miscellaneous, Musings, Op Ed, Opinion, Principles about retail thievery, Reflections, Shoplifting, Shopping, Society, The thievery cycle, Thievery, Thoughts
CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
PAYING THE PENALTY
FOR RETAIL THEFT AND DECEPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~
RATE THIS POST! CLICK ON A STAR ABOVE
~~~~~~~~~~~~
All I needed was an eight by ten manila envelope for an immediate project.
I entered the dollar store, probably the only source in our small community, to purchase this item. I asked a clerk where to find the envelopes, headed to the appropriate counter, and located the product. I quickly picked up the only one package on the shelf. Then I noticed its condition.
I took the package over to the clerk I’d spoken to and asked her if she was the store manager.
“Yes,” she said.
I showed her what I’d found, fully expecting a reduction on the price of the package.
“I’ll have to put it in with the damaged goods,” she said, indicating the product was no longer purchasable.
“I’m willing to pay for the envelopes that are there,” I said.
“I can’t do that. I have to (more…)