To the woman I was a complete ass to at the gas station

I feel I should explain my comment, but to do so, we have to rewind the clock.

I started the day driving the wife to work, a drive where we saw two people spin out, one car accident, and a lot of congestion during the 20 minute commute that was 50 minutes today.

The next thing of note. I went to Michael's to return a Christmas gift we received last week, since Christmas was postponed with wife's family due to the wedding. I brought the gift and receipt to the counter, mentioning that it was a gift and that I planned to get some picture frames with the return.  The guy said since it was bought more than 90 days ago, I couldn't return it. Never mind that it was a gift, that we didn't get it until recently, and so on. He said they've gotten in trouble for returning such things, even unopened with the original receipt. He said I couldn't even return it without a receipt for whatever it was selling for today. I left with the unwanted gift, and no picture frames.

Next I went to Target to get a refill on Wife's epi-pen, the emergency shot I am to give her if she ever has a horrible reaction to her allergy shots. It had two refills left, but the last time we did so was in Moorhead, since they last a year. Turns out Target doesn't carry generic epi-pens, so it was a no go. I did get two nice picture frames though.

Then I went to WalGreens to do a refill at a place we haven't filled from before.

I was having a day. Lots of crap going on, including thinking a lot about my family and how I'm going to be taking a break from them for a while for reasons I don't want to write about.

Then, I walked into the gas station to get some cigs. I walked in after you. You were a 65-year-old short woman with tinted glasses, brandishing a cellphone above your head and making a beeline for the counter, where the clerk was helping a customer.

"I've been trapped in your carwash for 15 minutes, honking. I can't get my car out. I have 911 on the phone."

The clerk chuckled a bit, I don't know why, perhaps because the way you held your phone up above your head as proof, perhaps because working at a gas station is a suckfest of drudgery, and this was something that hadn't happened before. Granted, it was insensitive. You snapped:

"It's not funny!"

The clerk got the attention of another store worker. She came over to help. You repeated your story, still holding your cellphone like it had AIDS, or you were trying to get reception. I wondered what was going on with the 911 operator on the other end while you waved the cellphone around.

"I have 911 on the phone right now!"

The second clerk chuckled at this.

"It's not funny."

Instantly, I thought how we are all tied together. Me with my shitty day. You with your shitty 15 minutes stuck in a car wash. The clerks with their shitty day trying to keep the floors clean despite the new dirty snow tracked in each second. All our lives suck today, and we all need a bit of respite from an uncaring universe to remember that none of it matters, and the most you can hope for is a Vonnegut-like post-modern perspective that the only point is to find some humor in the craziness.

"Yes it is." I said to you.

I got my cigs and left.