Just Wondering

Have you ever walked through a bookstore and picked up something interesting only to have a stranger lean over and offer "That is such a good book"?

It's happened to me once or twice and, while there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I mean, has anyone ever said to themselves, "Hmm, this looked kind of interesting, and that guy with the lazy eye and sweaty pits said it was great. I guess I should buy it!" I mean, it's not exactly arrogant of a stranger to think that I, a stranger to them, should care about their opinion. But, that being said, why should I care about their opinion? Who are they, anyway? Granted, I'm reading much too far into it. It's probably just a genuine affection for the book expressed in an environment that promotes affection for books. Or it could be a pick-up line.

I mean, the same could be said of me writing this blog. I offer a lot of opinions - why should anyone care? With so many opinions out there now, is an online stranger any more reliable than some guy in a store? In a way it is, because one could conceivably file through my archives and decide whether or not my opinions are worth paying attention to. Not so with Mr. Sweaty Pits Man (why sweaty pits? And what if they are actually attractive? Does that trigger some sub-conscious agreeableness on the recipient's part?). For all you know, he might be striking up a conversation because he thinks you'd make a great sacrifice to appease Abithwa, the Bong God.

It reminds me of a time I worked at a high-end kitchen retail store and was ringing up an elderly gentleman. At the next register stood two beautiful women in their late twenties. He had been flirting with them as they stood in their parallel lines and both reached their respective cashiers at the same time. He plopped his merchandise on the counter in front of me and I began to ring it up. As he continued to crack jokes about the high-priced cookware to his giggling audience, I grabbed the chipotle raspberry barbeque sauce.

Elderly Man: "Have you tried that?"

Me: "Yeah." (Typical retail lie: say you tried it and loved it.)

Elderly Man: "Would you recommend it?"

Me: "Well, actually, it's great with-"

Elderly Man: "Ah, who cares?" (swatting his hand at me as if shooing a fly away)

The girls laughed at the cantankerous old man and he was eating it up. I was stunned into silence; I had never been set up like that by a customer before. He kept joking to them - "Who cares what some young kid thinks? I don't even know the guy! " - and they kept giggling. I don't know if they were laughing at him, with him, just being good sports or what. I just know that I had been used and made fun of just to get some girls young enough to be his granddaughters (or wife if this were Billy Joel) to smile at him.

But still.

Part of me was like, "Oh, gee, fuck you. If you don't want my opinion, fine, then don't ask for it." And part of me was like, "You know what? The man is old, he probably has like an eighth of a second more to live and he just needed an ego boost to distract him from his knee/hip/liver/kidney/lung/prostate/bladder/spleen/colon/heart ailment(s). And, really, why should he care about my opinion?"

Well, why should he care? Why should I care about someone else's opinion? In my own, long-winded way, it comes down to this: what, really, is the role of the critic in today's society? When people flock to The Da Vinci Code after every single movie critic hates it and people run out to buy James Frey's A Million Little Pieces (yes, I am bringing that up again) even after it's revealed to be a hoax, who's opinion holds any influence? I mean, besides Oprah, of course. Just because someone gets paid to opine, or published his opinions online, doesn't mean he's any good or any more authoritative.

Obviously it comes down to personal responsibility. Who you choose to listen to is your choice...as long as you listen to me. And Abithwa, the Bong God.