Falling For Tricky Wording Doesn’t Make You Self-Centered

I am seventeen but many think I look several years older. I am at the grocery store helping my mom when we stop by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for her. It is less than a week before July fourth. It seems that both my mom and the pharmacist are talkative people. After he hands my mom her prescription, he calls me up.

Pharmacist: “Your mom tells me you are in school. Is it true?”

Me: “Yeah.”

Looking back, he thought she meant college.

Pharmacist: “Okay, you are clearly smart, so I have a question for you: does Europe have a fourth of July?”

Me: “I mean, the day is still July fourth, but they don’t celebrate US independence. Are you asking what day is their Independence Day?”

Pharmacist: *Looking sad* “I have asked dozens of young people this question; you are the first one to answer right. Most young people just don’t understand these types of things. They’re too self-centered.”

My mom and I decided to ignore his rude comments because he couldn’t trick me and just left.