Daft Punk: Get Lucky

Loving photography, I had asked my friend, let's call her, Mirelena, if I could go with her when she shopped for cameras. She needed to return something she bought first, because the seal had been broken, and then it turned out she didn't even need it. She didn't want to go to the location where she purchased it and hoped she could go elsewhere. Following my suggestion, we went to a branch I've frequented. 

As we waited in line, I felt the clerk would be unable to help us. I had never seen him before. He quickly said, "No dear, you have to go to the store where you bought it." We exited but I convinced Mirelena we should go back and ask again. The cosmetician was busy. We walked around trying to find someone. Mirelena went to the pharmacy counter. I spotted a clerk and asked if there was a manager. He disappeared and she came out and issued the refund, explaining that the clerk was new. Daft Punk's Get Lucky was playing in the background. Mirelena mentioned being up all night. She thought about how she looked and said she had raccoon eyes. The manager said she had them all the time. She also admitted to having trouble reading the receipt and held it up closer to her face. "They tell me I have 20/20," she said, "But I have trouble seeing."

Mirelena's ex, Catherine had recently given me money for her birthday towards new glasses and mentioned 20/20 during her email transfer. Which I had confused for the year as it was the second time that day someone mentioned 2020. The first time seemingly made no sense as it was a photo of themselves as a child with the title 2020 (butterfly emoji). Obviously a great example for how only we know what we mean. Perhaps by 2020 I will have 20/20 vision.

Mirelena was happy that I persisted which reminded me of how we do just need to keep trying and how sometimes it takes works to get what we want and how often things happen in threes. How sometimes we need to hear something several times for it to register. Or how the punchline in jokes usually happens on the third, after two set ups. Thus began my telling of the duck food joke. 

For some reason, telling the duck food joke had me crying from laughter, even though or perhaps because I kept interjecting the joke by talking about human behavior the duck faced. And somehow was able to tie this duck joke with Mirelena's recent anguish. 

We arrive at the counter and unusually no one comes to offer assistance. We are clearly at a counter and are unable to help ourselves as the items are locked away. There is a long amount of time during which we talk about men. 

If we accept that all of the problems in the world were created by CIS white men, then it's men who have the power to change it, and changing it would make them happy. They wouldn't have to walk around pretending to be anything and we women, queer and trans would be free to walk around without fear of them murdering us when they were sad, angry or felt a need to prove their masculinity and sexuality. Men seem to have an amazing capacity to communicate with each other. They create a new word for instance, bromance, and suddenly that word is everywhere. 

Used to being invisible, I jokingly say that I'm the reason we are being ignored, but add that we are talking so maybe no one wants to interrupt, although we are practically whispering as we don't want to offend anyone. I tell Mirelena about Olivia in London who said she was a manhater. Mirelena reacted the same way I had, with recoil. In spite of our feelings about men, we would never call ourselves that. In reality there are only two clerks and the store is busy. I step away and linger at the alarm clocks which a queer couple are examining. Then turn and see another clerk and ask him if he knows about cameras. He had been on break or was just arriving to start his shift. 

Since having done a lot of research on a particular model and line of a pocket camera, I tried to encourage Mirelena to try the model I tried over a year ago. Vicarious living wish denied, she was drawn to a deluxe camera which confused me as she was given what sounded like a decent camera that she called too bulky, plus she didn't know how to use it. Now she was interested in a bulky camera saying she could learn how to use it during a 14 hour airplane ride. But it's also funny that on our way there, I kept asking if she was going to buy a $1600 camera (which is the cost of the camera I dream of) and she said no way! She planned on a limit. But there she was looking at a $1600 camera, just not the one I covet.

Walking to her car, M says, "You know how jealous I am...has a cosmetic bag that I wish I had. I wonder where I could get one." We head back to the store we were just in. While we wait in line, I tell M about Arlene, someone I used to see from time to time at work or in the area. Saw her last week and she told me some personal stories with tears in her eyes. Introducing herself, Arlene spoke about a postal worker who had asked her, "Why can't you ever remember my name?" The postal worker's name is Mirelena. Guess she expected Arlene to remember her name because their names rhymed?

We start to head over to another store on the second floor when I spot a luggage store and suggest we try there. Mirelena approaches a clerk to describe what she is looking for. "Word," he says, moving towards the bag. "Did he say, Word?" I ask aloud but go unheard. He picks up a bag and asks if it's too big. M says it is and picks up another to look at. I pick up the first bag and unzip it, wondering about it design that makes its bulky. Turns out to have some Velcro that undoes and becomes exactly the bag M was looking for. He claimed to have the same bag earlier. Now he says he was waiting for me to discover that feature myself. Did he really have the same bag and know? We would have left the store not knowing had I not unfolded it myself.

"Did you say "word" earlier?" I ask him. He quickly denies it. M says she also heard him say it. He soon admits he was lying as a joke, but that he did say Word. I don't understand why he would joke or deny saying it. But my questioning him, and perhaps him admitting the truth, made him open up and we learned a lot about him, his life, his family. He said his parents were both teachers who took pains in his word choice. "So you are rebelling?" I said. "Will you change?" I ask. He said he wouldn't. I told him we would not be friends as I took words very seriously and had no understanding of sarcasm. He took up a lot of space, as Helena would have surmised. He never asked about us or gave us the space to do so. He talked about his two younger sisters. I told him I could be friends with them. They sounded cool. My mind drifted when he listed all the instruments he played. He said school was 17 hours a day and that he worked nights and weekends. Perhaps he was exaggerating. I don't know where he lived but he said he took the bus and since he lived at home was saving on a lot of expenses. He listed them all. Somehow he will be able to graduate without accumulating debt by working part-time in a mall, for what he stated, minimum wage? He must have mentioned how lucky he was and I said that he was also lucky to be white and male. He quickly agreed and said how everyday at university they gave acknowledgement for the land they were on. 

"You know what I would do, if I were you," I said, rolling up my sleeves to show my dark skin, "I'm Metis. I would raise my hand up and suggest that the university give money to First Nations people so that they could have clean drinking water." 

At some point, he told us his name, Devin. I only know how it is spelled because he said it quite clearly, "With an I" 

He also told us Devin means Poet.

During the transaction there was more talking and I just felt like Devin was getting all the attention so I included Rob, the other clerk. "You too, Rob, you're doing a good job. I like your hair." Devin must have mentioned his shirt. Rob spoke about his shirt. How he chose it because his fiancé liked stars and how his had white stars and how she had worn hers to an interview and how it had black stars. Rob wore one of those, unsure what they are called, it looks like a toy, hanging out of a pocket. Another kid I saw at Rage Trials had one on their backpack, but their's was clearly a cat. I liked it but complimented that kid on their shoes. Helena looked up from her phone and agreed.

Leaving the store, Devin said, "Have a good afternoon, guys." 

"Guys?!" I said. "After that whole conversation you use guys?" 

He tried other words.

"Have a good afternoon, ladies?" He asked.

We groaned. "That's worse!" M said.

"Have a good afternoon." I called.

M said his face had turned red. I had failed to notice. I only noticed the word.

The last stop was smelly. Air fresheners or candles. Fleetwood Mac's Tell Me Lies was playing. Sales clerks lie to sell, just like the first clerk we saw who lied because he was new and was feeling overwhelmed. M was returning an eye shade. She explained herself to the clerk. A man came up, shaking his head no. But then he was nodding and walked away, seemingly without saying anything. "Was that your boss?" I asked invisibly. He had seem to come from nowhere, said nothing but she was going ahead with giving M a store credit minus 20% as she had lost the receipt. I felt sorry for the clerk for having to wear what looked like a police radio. She worked on inputting information into the cash register while M asked if I wanted something from the store as she was unlikely to ever use it. I wanted to leave because of the smell. M asked if the store credit had an expiration date. It didn't. 

"One day I'll get a towel," M said wistfully, who also wanted to just leave, get home and eat.

The man hovered again silently nearby. "It's cash today." the clerk stated and yet once again, M kept saying, "What's happening? What's going on?" And I just laughed, as usual, saying, "Do you see what's happening here?!"

I am unsure if M sees what I see. Or hears what I hear. If you take the time to look up the lyrics to the highlighted songs, you may or may not understand. The music is just a part of the magic.