Offending an Asian Dude outside the Ross House

I left home donning a hat for the very first time today. I have hunted for a suitable hat every Spring but have always been disappointed because it has been nearly impossible to find one to fit my grotesque head. Then I came across this cheapo at Big W and it looked pretty good on me when I tried it on. So, I bought it and today, after hiding indoors for the past few days, I wore it for the very first time. As we walked from Southbank to the City, I kept telling M what it was like to wear the hat. It was an all new experience for me. Little did I realise that I was about to commit a heinous crime.

M had wanted to drop by the City Library to pick up an item he had ordered. I didn’t really want to go but gave in because we weren’t planning to stay for long. All I wanted to do was to get the grocery shopping done. As we walked down Flinders Lane, we jostled with other pedestrians along the narrow and busy footpath. Inside my brain, I was trying to remember all of the extra items not listed on my usual shopping list from Safeway. Just outside Ross House, a ute was parked there and a builder/contractor/workman (sorry that I don’t know what the right word to identify such a person is) was busy loading/unloading stuff from the ute. M was walking behind me. Down on my left side just a few steps ahead of me, I saw probably a couple of witches’ hats/traffic cones on the ground but I didn’t pay too much attention to them (that was mistake #1). Kiasu me saw that there was a chance to keep walking along the narrowed part of the footpath before pedestrians from the opposite direction, I went ahead and along the way, my left foot stepped on something the builder had earlier fixed. Believe it or not? I actually wasn't aware of what I precisely did at the time. There standing at the door way of Ross House was an Asian dude who witnessed my heinous crime. This was his opportunity to bombard me with his falsetto voice. “Don’t step on that!” “Didn’t you see that he just fixed this?” Other stuff was said as well but honestly I was both wondering what crime I committed and was also intrigued by the sound of his voice. Obviously caught red handed, I uttered a sorry and kept walking. It was utterly embarrassing to be scolded like this in public. Then I heard the builder asking, “Did she step on that?” and the Asian dude responded, “Yes, she did!” I called out another ‘Sorry’ but that was it. I hit the roof. Ok, there was no roof where I was standing at the time.

After our very brief visit to the library, I came out fuming. I know I was in the wrong. There is no excuse for being so careless. People like me should not cause any inconveniences to anyone. An apology to the builder went straight to the top of the to-do list if he was still there. He was, and I walked over to apologise to him like a sulking spoilt brat as featured in many episodes of the Super Nanny. He accepted it. Standing just inside the automatic sliding door was the Asian dude. I was in no mood to say anything to him. M was extremely worried that I was about to tear the dude into pieces. LOL.

Did this guy need to blast at me like that? He might as well just round up his henchmen and drag me down to the City Square so while kneeling on glass, I can be forced to admit to my wrong doing in front of the masses gathered there to watch the people participating in the Flying Trapeze workshops. Wouldn’t that be more fun? That may be too much for a wee dude to carry out on such a hot day. Besides, I think he already had his jollies yelling at me in front of the other pedestrians. It looks like Cheap Shots and Power Trips are becoming more and more common each day.