I swear, I've never done anything to her. I'm friendly with everyone else who works there, not like besties or anything, but we'll chitchat casually about our cats, some new product, blah blah blah.
So, I'm in there today (or technically yesterday) looking for shampoo bars. I've been trying to reduce the amount of plastic waste I create by simply existing, and I feel like bathroom stock is my biggest contributor - shampoo, conditioner, lotions, body wash, and about 20,000 skincare products. Anyhoot, they have shampoo bars, but they're like $15 each. $15! WTF?!? How am I supposed to support my local economy when you're pricing me out of it? And it's not even my local economy, it's some corporate brand called Kitsch that'll eventually be bought out by Unilever or P&G or some other monster, like how Clorox bought out Burt's Bees and absolutely ruined it.
I decided I'll instead find bar shampoo on Etsy (small businesses do still exist there, as long as you can avoid all the AI and dropshipping slop) and wandered aimlessly into their small metaphysical/witchy section. I picked up a bell that looked nearly identical to one my dad owned and decided I wanted it, despite what I just said about dropshipping 2 seconds ago. I'm making small talk with one of the employees about it, and there's this other lady who works there with the most sour look on her face. She always looks sour when I'm in there, but RBF is totally a thing so I've never judged her for it. I've seen her be friendly with other customers, even though I've never really interacted with her, myself. But it's nearing closing time, I'm the only customer left in the store and I'm ready to check out. Other employee and I are going off about bells and altars and what she wants to do with her altar, and RBF just like...stomps off. Yes, stomps. Like a toddler, even though she and other girlie had been chatting just fine 20 seconds before I walked up.
It just sorta clicked then. She doesn't have RBF, she just doesn't like me. That's kind of awesome, isn't it? I seriously love that for her. I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, I just think it's kinda cool that there's something about me that sets this woman off.
She looks close to my age. Does she know me? Did we go to school together? Have we clashed in some way? Did I accidentally flirt with her boyfriend once when we were 12 and she's been holding a burning grudge ever since? That's actually happened to me before*. Or maybe I got the leading role in the 5th grade production of West Side Story she wanted for herself and we've secretly been mortal enemies ever since.
It could also be that she just doesn't like me, with no real reason for it. Gods know I've run into people before who rub me the wrong way, like their voice grates on my nerves or some other minor, inconsequential thing like that. There are weirdos out that who chose to vote for Donald Trump because they thought Kamala Harris had an annoying laugh. It could be anything. It could be nothing.
Life is wild. I love it.
*okay so there's this lady we'll call Elle who I went to high school with. I didn't know her, but in 8th grade I was casual friends with this boy named Jay. Jay had some kind of crush on me, but never asked me out or made a move so it was a non-issue. I only even knew because one of his guy friends told me. Jay and I never had any classes together so our interactions were strictly cafeteria based and after 8th grade I never spoke to him again.
Elle started dating Jay in 9th grade, and sought me out, followed me around, and it was weird. The first time she introduced herself to me, she was like "Hi, I'm Elle, didn't my boyfriend used to have a crush on you in 8th grade?"
Me: "I don't know, who's your boyfriend?"
Elle: "Jay Something."
Me: "Oh, yeah I know him but I haven't talked to him since we left middle school."
Elle: "Okay but didn't he used to have a crush on you?"
And every single fucking time I've seen her since then, that's how she introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Elle, remember me? My high school boyfriend used to have a crush on you."
She added MY ENTIRE FAMILY on facebook, she chased me down in the <business name> parking lot to catch up, followed me inside the business, then proceeded to tell the employees all about my updated info while we were there. We weren't friends online, but if I made a public post, she would copy it verbatim and post it herself. It was fucking weird.
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