Time Waits For No Chinaman

(An older customer approaches my cash register.)

Customer: “Did you know that all the reality TV shows you watch today are 35 years old?”

(I look up to see if he was joking as some people with odd senses of humor come in my store. He isn’t.)

Customer: “Yeah! Five years ago I created a virus that turned all the TV transponder clocks back 50 years to 2008. At my old house, I received a TV station from China that was all in English and they said that the year was 2100. If you believe that the year is actually 2014 you are sadly mistaken.”

(I am still speechless. I don’t know if I should mention the inconsistencies in the time that it actually is or is not, so I just ring up his purchases. After the customer leaves, the next customer approaches.)

Next Customer: “It is kind of a scary thought that that man is allowed to operate a motor vehicle!”

Me: “Yeah. I figured I shouldn’t tell him that I have actually lived in China and we pretty much agree on what year it is.”

(The man’s purchases: two Neil Diamond cassette tapes easily over 30 years old. Maybe he was stocking up for the next time he releases the virus again!)