Miss or Mrs?

I was only stopping for some sweets for my students, to celebrate their day at school with activities and fun things. I took out my cell phone for the calculator and made a tiny selection of things I could afford, as I was at that a man behind the counter started small talking to me...

-What can I do for you Miss...or Mrs?

-It depends...I answered

-On what?

-If it's for marital status, Miss...if it's for having children, Mrs

-No mam, he replied, you are only Mrs if you're someone's lady...so you're definitely Miss.

I asked for my things and he piled them up on the counter.

-I would also need some lollypops, I added.

- Is it for your child's birthday?, he wondered.

- No, it's for my students, I explained.

-Oh, so, then you're a teacher? What subjetc?

- English

The man's face lightened up as he automatically started talking with a heavy Californian accent. He told me his mother was from Pensylvania and that he'd lived in California until he ran over a guy under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, and that he had come down to Chile to get away from 48 months in county jail. Shit.

He really spoke like a person who had learned his English hanging around suburbian street corners, lots of "You know watta meeeean", "maaaaen", "fock off" and expressions of that kind.

I could tell this man missed speaking English to someone, and as I'm always eager to practice mine, we small talked until the store manager glanced at us really uggly as a cue of people watched surprised at the clerk comunicating in fluid English to an obviously Chilean customer. What can I say.

I said Goodbye as politely as I could and left the store smiling.

You can never tell the kind of surprises life has for you, but you CAN tell when you're getting one, and sieze it as much as possible. I guess that's the point of life giving you surprises.