At work, guy comes up to the counter with a look of pleased preparation on his face. Whatever this was, it was going to be good.
“So! What’s the verdict on the Transformers movie?,” he asks us, confusing me for a moment since it isn’t out until July. But, we at the counter get his jist and I leave the answer to the resident on-duty Transformers SUPER fan, currently at the register.
He answers with modest enthusiasm and good natured regard, saying it’ll ‘blow everyone out of the water’ and that he’s looking forward to it. The guy? Not pleased, now … a little smirking.
“Oh, that’s not the answer I was expecting,” he says, disappointed.
Curious, I make the situation worse by asking, “Really? What answer were you expecting?”
“Oh,” he says, “something a little more cynical, more entertaining, more… witty.” And he walks out the door. We register jockeys pause.
“Did he just insult us?,” I ask.
“I think so?”
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So I wonder what disappointed him most, that the response wasn’t phrased in a humorous way, or that it was actually positive and hopeful?
Anyway, I say work from the assumption that if you have to ask, it’s not an insult.
We actually spend a few good minutes debating that very fact. We figured he was waiting for the Comic Book Guy to show up and entertain him, so that he could both laugh with and at us at the same time. High school smart guy senses tingling…