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 pretty late when I noticed he hadn’t put the metal or wooden bar between our grocery stuff, so mine rolled over his. He stopped unloading his basket, turned to me, and said, “Depat” (Deppert in proper German, meaning crazy/stupid). With one quick swing of his hand, he pushed my grocery items back to me. It was so fast and forceful that the bottles of wine I bought hit each other, and they almost shattered with the impact. I was stunned. I could only stare at him, an elderly, mean-looking Chinese man.
The cashier quickly stepped in, her tone firm and authoritative. She said, ‘Enough of this, not in this store, you should behave yourself, you are in Austria!’ Her quick action made me feel protected.
“Genau” (exactly), I said with a hint of amusement. The Chinese man didn’t like it; he shot me a dagger look and mimicked my words, highlighting our cultural clash.
Yes, exactly. I repeated the word as my blood pressure rose. My heart pounded, and I knew I was on the edge of losing control, but I couldn’t back down now.
You might think you’re the Emperor of China and can do whatever you want, but I want you to know I won’t be intimidated!
“I AM THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI!”
The cashier chuckled, thumbs up.
August 2017