Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Standing in Line, Who's in Front of Me?

Images are not always what we think. We look at someone and try to decide what they do for a living or even are they male or female. What a person wears may tell something about a person. Hair color may not always be a clue either.

This morning I was in line at a grocery store. As I waited, I looked at the back of the person in front of me. No big deal, right? Let's see... a woman wearing a uniform and a gun on her right hip. Police? No, security guard. Blonde hair, is she blue-eyed? No. Nice looking, black woman wearing carefully applied make-up and also wearing long deeply colored nails. As I looked at her pretty face, I noticed she was wearing glitter eye shadow. I've seen some people wear glitter eye makeup and I realize it may be a fashion trend. I admit I am a little old fashioned. My mother would have told me that glitter eye shadow was for nighttime party wear. She was wearing glitter eye shadow at 10:00 am. Maybe she just got off work. Assuming she did, as a security guard, who is she going to impress? The guys out to steal something? I just thought the glitter was a little out of place.

Then I looked at her well manicured l -o-n-g nails. Just how easy would it be for her to pull her gun out of the holster with those nails? I could just imagine. "Stop thief, police, damn, broke a nail!" Would the crook be able to get away? On the other hand maybe she works in a place where she has the gun more for show than protection.

Then as we stood in line I looked at the one item she was buying- one small bottle of make-up. I had some wine. The woman behind me had a bunch of coupons for a couple of items. Another lady had two bunches of banannas. The one woman out of us all who had time to put on her make-up was the woman in front of me and she was buying more. I guess she had to make sure she looked good while packing heat.

4 comments:

maria said...

I like the way you can describe your environment with such colour.

Maria

cube said...

How much security is that guard going to provide?

BTW Maria is right. You do have a way with words.

Unknown said...

Thanks Maria and Cube for your kind words.

maria said...

Bonjour Jill,

And I meant it with all my heart!

Maria