Reply #23: There was a cashier at the grocery store ...

[yeti]

... near where I live. This was a few years ago. Anyway, she was very pretty and nice, and I always tried to get into her line if she was working when I shopped. Not really hitting on her or anything like that, just to chat. She was nice.

Anyway, after about a year or so, there was a period of a few weeks or so when every time I saw her she always looked PISSED or like she was on the verge of tears. So one day when she was ringing me up, she asked the perfunctory "How are you?" in a gloomy tone. I said "Fine, I guess, except I think maybe you should *cheer* *up*." I said it in a kind of mock-annoyed tone, I wasn't trying to pry, but my intent was to find out what was wrong.

She got ALL upset! "Well, I think maybe *you* should know a little bit more *about* someone and what they've been through before you go around telling them to *cheer* *up*!" I was very embarassed. I knew she mistook my meaning, but all could say was "You're right, I know I should, I'm really sorry."

I was stupid. I had noticed she had been upset for a few weeks and it should have been obvious to me that a Very Bad Thing had recently happened to her. Actually, that was where I was going when I said what I did, but I should have stopped to consider that maybe a little reverence and respect for the emotions of someone who was obviously hurting might have been more appropriate than flirting, which was basically what I was doing.

I never found out what happened, she quit or got fired soon after that.