Close Encounter with the Emperor of China
He was emptying his grocery basket onto the conveyor belt for scanning. I was behind him doing the same. That was this morning, inside a supermarket in my neighborhood. It was quite late when I noticed he did not put the metal or wooden bar between our grocery stuff that mine rolled over his. He stopped unloading his basket, turned his head to me, and said, “Depat” (Deppert in proper German, which means crazy/stupid). With one quick swing of his hand, he pushed my grocery items back to me. It was so fast and forceful the bottles of wine I bought hit each other they almost shattered with the impact. I was stunned. I could only stare at him, an elderly and mean-looking Chinese man.
The cashier was quick to admonish him. Enough of it already, she said harshly and very authoritatively. You are in this supermarket branch in Austria, and you should behave yourself! She was furious.
“Genau” (exactly), I said with contempt. The Chinese guy didn’t like what he heard; he gave me a dagger look and mimicked what I have just said.
Yes, exactly, I repeated the word while feeling my blood pressure building up. But nothing could stop me now.
You can be the Emperor of China and think you can do whatever you want, but you cannot scare me!
“I AM THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI!”
The cashier chuckled with glee.
August 2017