Word Painting

I Hate Reading

I had a customer in the bookstore the other day tell me he hated reading. As I was pushing aside my thought to tell him he was an idiot, he piped up and said, “It’s a total waste of time.”

My response? “What are you doing in a bookstore, then?”

He pointed to his wife. I looked at her and she had an arm load of books with a big smile on her face. I looked back at the man, he looked miserable, as if his being in a bookstore was a death sentence. I shook my head, looked at the floor, then walked off as I said, “Just don’t tell any kids you hate reading, please.”

“Oh, my kids love to read,” he responded. “I would never tell them I hate to read,” he continued.

“Thank God,” I thought to myself.

[This actually happened]