and today's encounter

...with the general public.

There was a woman ahead of me in line in the 7-11 today who wanted to engage the clerk in a long conversation about if and why and how she could deduct her lottery losses from her taxes, and how her accountant told her she could only do this if she had proof of losses that were equal to her winnings. "I won $1000," she said. "What if I had $900 in losses? That doesn't count?"

The clerk was one of the various and sundry brown-skinned immigrants from various and sundry Third World countries who work in my 7-11, and you could just see him thinking, You stoopid spoiled American! Be glad all your government wants is a cut of your lottery winnings and that no death squads have marched through your village and no one is planning genocide against your people! Now move along so the customers behind you can pay for their purchases.

Okay, so maybe I'm projecting. It happens. What the poor long-suffering clerk was really doing was very patiently explaining that this matter was neither his area of expertise nor under his control, so perhaps she should take it up with the lottery commision, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or her accountant. But even still, she was still going on about it to her companion when I left.

Jesus (and Allah and Buddha and Vishnu) wept.

xoxo