Yanking the chain

My car has a little computer that tells me how many more miles I can drive before it runs out of gas (in the old days, we just used a gas gauge.).  As I was coming home from the roast late last night, I noticed the range had dropped down into the single digits.  The car was running on fumes. I was going to have to stop.

I pulled over into a gas station in the suburban community of Madison. Madison has a lot of rich folks living in it, and I figured they wouldn’t mind if I stopped and bought some of their boutique gas.  As I started pumping it, I noticed a lady was looking at me in a funny — and kind of rude — way (not the first time, trust me.)  I looked back at her and suddenly realized why she was staring:  I was pumping gas in my tux.

I smiled and asked, “doesn’t everyone in Madison dress like this to pump gas?”

She quickly turned her head and went back to her business.

Honestly, I could have been annoyed that she was staring at me.  I know I’ve gotten similar stares when I expose my cancer scars on my back to the world, too.  Those stares are usually met with the earnest reply, “shark attack.” or some other comment to throw them off.  Because you see, I  believe we have two choices when people have sudden fits of rudeness: You can get offended or you can yank their chain (and have a good story to tell.)

I’ll go for yanking someone’s chain every day of the week.  It’s more fun. Trust me.