Pause for Something Serious

A couple of weeks ago I encountered a woman to which I had never thought I would. I had met few people that had come across these believers before, and never thought I would come across one myself. But ever since I met "Grandma Bonnie" as she calls herself, I can't stop thinking about her. Whether it be fascination upon encountering something so scarce, or being utterly creeped out by her beliefs I not yet know, so I thought the best way to stop being fascinated was to write about her.

"Grandma Bonnie" came into my store early one morning and looked like someone who didn't belong there. She came in with a long, dirty, black trench coat, a simple black winter had, thick socks on with sandals, and her grey hair tied back. She certainly couldn't be interested in what I was selling! I was correct. She walked over to the mens accessories and came over to me in disgust. "Can I just ask, what happened to the separation of religion and state?" I looked at her puzzled, not wanting to answer her. She was talking about the mens fashion rosaries, and braceletts that portray pictures of the virgin Mary on them.

After she continued to stare at me I mentioned to her that we weren't trying to force any beliefs on our customers, that we were simply giving them the option to purchase a fashion accessory, and that Aldo was Jewish! So he really wasn't trying to push the religion on anybody. She looked outraged and said, "oh the puzzle continues!" Looking at her puzzled she went on to tell me that the Roman Catholics, along with the pope, was trying to take over the world. She gave me this big sob story about how they have always been after her. How they killed her BRILLIANT husband, beat her dog, and kicked her out of her apartment even though she consistently paid rent on time.

Not wanting to cause a ruckus I waited until she left and called security, telling them how inappropriate this was because she was disturbing some of my customers. While I believe in freedom of speech, I also don't want to have to listen to it when I don't want to. Freedom is not just for the one delivering the message, the messengers need to remember that the listeners have the freedom to ignore.

Being uncomfortable with her talk about 9/11 being a conspiracy, etc. I did not hesitate to give her description to the police so that any other managers that have a store to run, would not have to be bothered by her, or lose customers because of her rambling. So while I feel bad the "Grandma Bonnie" has had the unfortunate luck of losing her husband, companion, and home, I also feel bad that she has become unstable enough to blame it all on the government..ours as well as other countries.