Yesterday, I was standing in line at a packaging/shipping center. I had arrived at a very busy time. There were three people ahead of me in line, and only one store employee. So there was plenty of time to get to know the other customers.
The woman at the front of the line had a package that she wanted to send to Iraq. As it turned out, the UPS system would not process the shipping order without a destination phone number, which the woman did not have available.
A middle-aged couple in front of me also had a package to be sent to Iraq. They remarked that they frequently send packages to their military nephew, and never needed a phone number. As it turned out, yes, the system processed their APO package without a phone number.
And that got them suspicious.
The first woman needed a phone number, so she must be trying to send the package to someone other than a member of the military.
The man thought carefully and then remarked, "Yeah, there are good, patriotic people over there working for KBR and Blackwater. Good for them. She was probably going to send something to one of them. Good for her."
I couldn't resist, so I pointed out that there are also journalists over there, not to mention all the innocent civilians who might be potential recipients of gifts from the U.S.
This was too much for the man. He insisted, "No, there's the good American troops, there's the good American contractors, and the rest of 'em over there are towel-headed terrorists. Remember what they did to us on 9/11. That's why we're over there kicking their ass."
Then it occurred to him: "That woman was probably trying to ship supplies to a terrorist. That's why they need a phone number!"
At that point, I gave up and looked the other way. Some people just cannot be reasoned with.
No comments:
Post a Comment