The guy behind the counter at the corner shop [the only other place I shop besides Amazon.com] is usually cleanshaven and amiable looking. When I walked in last night, he was sporting a goatee and looking as if he’d been on drugs.

I spent quite a while doing some shopping, reluctant as always to head back into the biting cold which for some reason, threatens to take off my ears. I deposited all my stuff on the counter, and for some reason decided to pay him with my Paypal debit card.

He handed me my receipt without giving me the shop’s copy to sign. Some alarms went on in my head and I reminded him politely that I hadn’t signed.

I looked the receipt over just before I signed and an ‘aha!’ escaped my lips. My bill looked like this:

SALE			$18.67
TAX			$18.67

TOTAL			$37.34

Naturally, I began to wonder when I started paying 100% tax.

‘Hey, look at this,’ I said calmly, as I thought of how it’d be settled in Nigeria:

‘You want to do me “open eye“,’ I’d have said and given him an uppercut [not really, but that’s what almost anyone would do.

He pretended(?) to be puzzled, as though I was correctly billed. I stuck to my grounds and he finally admitted,’My machine’s [[****]]ed up. This is the third time this has happened today.’

‘I’ll check my balance and get back to you,’ I told him. I’m still surprised I didn’t blow up.

Sure enough, when I looked up my Paypal balance, $37.34 had been billed to me by the Corner Shop. I’m leaving for the shop at the moment to get my balance. Let’s hope he doesn’t get fired by my Indian friend who owns the shop.