Way back in the way back when, my local Trader Joe’s used to sell this chianti that was very-very good. It was the kind of bottle that had the bamboo wrapping around the bottom of it.
 
I don’t know… There’s just something cool about that. You don’t see it too much anymore. But, it did/does provide the whole drinking wine experience with a vibe.
 
This was back when I lived on the Esplanade in Redondo and I would hit up the Trader Joe’s in the Village.
 
Sometimes, when I had a little money in the bank, I would buy that wine by the case. Mostly, I would just stop in and pick up a couple of bottles of it a few times a week in association with whatever I was buying for dinner.
 
FYI: I’m not one of those people who buys food way in advance, and stocks up their refrigerator, like most people do. Pretty much I only buy food one day at a time. Keep it fresh and all…
 
For whatever reason, it seemed like there was frequently this one girl working the cash registered in the evenings when I would be checking out. I didn’t think too much about it. That was just the way it was.
 
One night, however, she made the comment to me, “You always buy cheap wine.” What??? That statement kind of hit me hard, in one of those weird sort of ways. I mean, here I am, a guy who is not averse to spending a hundred dollars, or much more, on a bottle of wine while dining out or elsewhere. But, I only bough this wine because it was, as stated, really good.
 
Now, I’ve spoken about this in the past, but the price of a bottle of wine in no way guarantees that it will possess a grand flavor. I mean, I’ve been given some very expensive bottles of wine as a gift and after a sip or two, as they were so bad, I just poured them done the sink. Anyway…
 
I thought that was kind of an underhanded comment. Kind of like an insult. Why, she said that, I have no idea? What she meant by it, is a question. But, the way it came out, really put me off and set me to thinking.  One thought was, “Fuck you. Is that the way you are supposed to speak to your customers?” The other was, “It’s really sad that you need to make yourself feel better about yourself by subtly attacking someone else’s choices.” And then, “I guess you only take note of me buying the chianti and not the so many other bottles of wine I have purchased from this store, over the years, that were far more expensive. But, that did not make them taste any better.”
 
I guess if they had Yelp back then I could have written a negative review.
 
For the most part, I’ve had nothing but nice experiences with the people I’ve met that worked at Trader Joe’s. I’ve even become friends with some of them. But…
 
I imagine we’ve all encountered situations like that at some point in our life. Someone wanting to feel like something more by putting us down. Maybe you have even done that?
 
I believe the key element through all of this is, in life, people have two ways to encounter their destiny. One, they can accept it and come to love it. Or two, if they do not like it, they can devise a method to change it. But, by trying to gain standing by speaking down to or about someone else, that style of action achieves nothing and all that those words do is to cause a person, like me in this situation, to remember you in a negative manner.
 
Whatever happened to that girl? I have no idea. Eventually she was, at least at that Trader Joe’s, no longer there. Did she find happiness in a place where she did not have to diminish the likes of someone else? I will never know. What I do know is, if you must criticize or diminish the like(s) and/or the life and lifestyle of anyone else, just to make yourself feel better about yourself, you are walking the wrong life path.