Small Town: Population 10,000 And One Idiot
There was a small group of guys in my grade school who bullied my friends and me on the regular. One time this particular idiot stole ten dollars from my friend’s pencil case. She never got it back.
Fast forward ten years. I’m working at a convenience store in the same (very small) town, in walks the particular idiot – I had seen him on occasion in the bar I also worked in before this incident and he still spoke to me just as disrespectfully as he had ten years prior.
He asks for a pack of rolling papers, I put them on the counter, he grabs some out of the pack and runs out of the store.
The next time he comes in my boss is at the register with me. I had told him about what happened, and he was aware of the guy from the bar, which he also owned (small town).
Idiot: “Get me a [pack of cigarettes].”
My boss pulls out the same pack of rolling papers and tosses them in with the cigarettes that Mr. Idiot is buying.
Idiot: “What the f*** is this?!”
Boss: “The pack of rolling papers you didn’t finish buying last week.”
Idiot: “That ain’t mine!”
Boss: *Holding back both items.* “Either both of these are yours, or none of them are.”
He protests a bit more but finally gives in and throws a crumpled-up twenty on the counter.
Boss: “That’s $9 for the cigarettes and rolling paper… but wait, [My Name], doesn’t [Idiot] still owe you ten bucks?”
Me: “Yeah, from seventh grade.”
Boss: *Tosses Mr. Idiot a dollar change.* “There you go, all squared up.”
Idiot: “What the f*** are you doing?! Give me back my change!”
Boss: “I did. You’re now all paid up and ready to leave.”
Idiot: *To me.* “Give me back my ten!”
Me: “Be happy I’m not charging you nine years of interest. Please leave.”
He swore at us and knocked over a display on the counter as he left. A policeman stopped by later and said (between laughs) that the idiot had gone to the station to complain about us. What he didn’t realize was that the police officer he was complaining to was the father of my friend he stole the money from in the first place, all the way back in Middle School.
Things always come back around in very small towns!
