A Chilled Reaction

(I am starting off a semester with a new college roommate. We are going shopping together for a fridge for our dorm. A woman I don’t know talks to us as we’re looking at the fridges.)

Woman: “That’s a good one.” *points to one*

Roommate: “Oh, thanks! It’s a little out of our price range.”

Woman: “Why are you buying a fridge?”

Me: “We’re students at the university. We’re rooming together this year and neither one of us has a fridge, so we figured we needed one.”

Woman: *with great pride in her voice* “Good for you! Good for you!”

(She walks away.)

Me: “Do you know her?”

Roommate: “Nope. No idea who she is.”

(We finally choose a fridge and head toward the checkout. In line behind us are two older women.)

Woman #1: “You girls are buying a fridge, huh?”

Roommate: “Yeah, for our dorm room.”

Woman #2: “Good for you! I’m so proud of you guys!”

Me: “Thank you?”

(We never did figure out what in the world was so admirable about buying a fridge for our dorm, but I think we made a lot of random women in that store very impressed with the younger generation that day.)