“Next,” she said and the man walked in.
“How can I help you?” He looked at her and sat down.
The seat was small and uncomfortable, even as the bank was large and lush, decorated in an antiquated style that seemed ornamental and overdone. A large mural of chariots being drawn through the clouds and skies was painted across the high ceiling of the main section of the building. The man could see it above the enclosed cubicle/office.
“Actually”, he cleared his throat, “Actually. I was next.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s why I called you in here.”
“No, I mean I was next, as in before the last person who was in here, the man who just walked out.”
“Yes, he was next and now you’re next. The person behind you will be next, after you.”
“I meant that you took him before me.”
“No, I didn’t. I called and he came. If it was your turn, you would’ve come but you didn’t which means it wasn’t your turn. But now it is and how can I help you?”
“That’s not what I meant at all. That man, that man stepped in front of me just as you called out. He stepped right, right in front of me.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It’s possible. It happened.”
“Even if it happened, it’s not my responsibility. How am I supposed to know who’s standing outside the door?”
“You looked,” he said.
“I looked?”
“You looked. I saw you look when the door opened and the person before me, before him, exited and I saw you look right at me.”
“And what did I do?”
“You looked right at me and said ‘next.’”
“Well, if I said ‘next’, why didn’t you come?”
“Because that…man stepped right in front, nearly knocked me down, right in front of me and walked in.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“That’s not my problem.”
He looked but the corners of his mouth tensed.
“No apology? no nothing? That’s all I want, a little ‘I’m sorry’, anything.”
“Apologize? For what?” she said.
“For taking someone ahead of me when it was clearly and I mean clearly my turn.”
“Sir, I’m not apologizing for anything.”
“Then I need to see the manager.”
“You need to see who?”
“The manager?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“That’s between me and the manager.”
“No, that’s between you, me and the manager.”
“And the man who took my turn.”
“I’m sure he’s long gone by now. sir”
“Of course, that’s why I need to see the manager.”
“Are you going to track that man down, and then what arrest him?”
“That’s not what this is about”
“What is this about? I would love to know.”
“Rudeness on top of rudeness,” he muttered.
“Rude? Sir, are you calling me rude.”
“Not you, but the behavior, certainly when looked at. Why anyone could see.”
“See what?”
“Rude.”
“I’ll tell you what sir, you want an apology? You want some kind of confession that I’ve somehow treated you unfairly; you won’t get it not from me, not from the manager, not from anyone. No one is going to tell you that you’re right, that you’ve been wronged by this place or by me. Not by me nor on behalf of me. No one is apologizing in my name to you.”
“Then we have nothing to talk about.”
“Exactly.”
“And that’s exactly why I am asking to see the manager. He is…”
“Who told you the manager is a man?”
“He or she is the only one to settle this. The only one who can make this right.”
“I don’t see how sir, I don’t see...”
“Can I speak to that person then?”
“Look, I could lie to you sir but I’m not, I’m going to get up, walk out that door under the pretense that I’m getting a manager but in actuality I’m just going to the ladies room and sneak a smoke and say ‘fuck that man’ (meaning you) ‘fuck that man’ over and over until the butt of the butt of that cigarette is all burnt out and then I’m going to walk very slowly, verrry slowly mind you back over here and through that door and tell you that the manager had to go to a meeting and will not be back until tomorrow. Now I don’t think either one of us really want to do that. You came here for a reason and I’m guessing this wasn’t it. This wasn’t what you wanted to do today was it?”
“Well, thank you for your honesty but all of that, why I woke up this morning, what I was supposed to accomplish today, that was not the point.”
“Then sir, what is the point, what is the point?”
He looked at her for a long moment and opened his mouth.
