After spending several more minutes than I needed to
waiting for this customer to count the change in her purse
despite the fact she is 18 or 19 at most and
should not be counting 
pennies like a Grandma
and having to retract her order several dozen times
based on her extreme indecision
and ability to be completely surprised by items
that had been right in front of her face for five minutes
but she suddenly just discovered them
and had to have them
but then not want them 
I do my best to fight off a sign of relief as I hand her
her bags and wish her a good day.

As she takes a step towards the door, she pauses and turns around.
“Would you happen to have the time?” she asks.
I point above me, to the analog clock that has been there 
the entire time.
She stares at it quizzically, 
for more than a full minute.
 “Can't you just tell me what time it is?”
I look up to check on it.
“It's working, isn't it?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says. “But I'm not good at math.”

One day I approached a mom and pop antique store
walking up the beautiful porch 
I noticed a large round spider web
intricate, complex, a work of art.
The owner of the shop came outside
both carrying some items for display 
and to greet me.
Noticing where my gaze was fixed she dropped her item
pulled back in fear and made a loud squeal
“Ewww!! Spider web! Look at that spider!” she pointed
at the nice sized little creature climbing up its habitat
towards a pair of mosquitos it had managed to catch.
“Get rid of it, get rid of it!” she screamed in as high pitched a voice
 as I can ever recall hearing.  
As she searched for some large object to use to attack
I grabbed a long string of the spider web, and disconnected it from the ceiling
which only made the woman scream more, calling me
crazy for wanting to touch it
I moved it to the side of the building,
without incident
towards a bush and set it down there,
far away from the entrance and the panicking woman
who had run back into the store.
After entering the shop and making a minor purchase
once she was fully collected again
“Thank you for killing that spider,” she said with a smile.
“I didn't kill it,” I pointed out “just moved it away from the front door.”
“Aw, you shoulda killed it!” she said a little less happy.
 I tilted my head and asked the question, “why?”
despite knowing I've heard this response before.
“Because it's a disgusting spider! Ew, they should all just die.”
I shrug, not wanting to press the argument further
knowing from experience that this will probably just make her angry
but as I leave I wonder,
I wonder if this woman realized that this little
harmless spider might have saved her
from two mosquitos carrying diseases
I wonder if she had given any thought to what might happen to the delicate balance
of the ecosystem
without spiders or other creatures
and then I thought and wondered why she had such
trouble tolerating this harmless little spider
who had been minding his own business
and why she seemed unable to handle its mere existence.
And then I realized that humans have a very long history
and a very bad track record in this department
whether it be the other hominids we wiped out for
us to gain supremacy of this planet
the Native Americans that settlers from Europe
couldn't share the continent with
all those people deemed “Just this or that” and easily disposable 
during the early 1940's.
The intolerance shown during segregation
or the fact the majority of the 50 states in the land of the free seem to be
as unable to handle the idea of same sex marriage as
that woman was able to handle that harmless spider sharing the world with her.
The spider that could not logically do any harm to her or her person
her shop or her way of life
and I wonder what it is about humans
so uniquely on this world
that makes us feel the need to wipe out
whatever it is that makes us uncomfortable.
Is this our primary function? Biologically?
For our fears to throw things out of balance?
Or are we just so uncomfortable with ourselves
so insecure in our own skins
so scared of the world around us
that maybe we secretly feel
deep down
that WE are the ones 
who do not belong.