From The New York Shitty Inbox: Expelled From The Garden?

STORE, that is. R writes:

babe.

we don’t patronize the deli on the corner anymore (the one with the window above the train staircase at nassau and manhattan).  the garden store, it’s called, right?  i went in to get some juice and was followed in by a guy with a lit cigarette dangling from his filthy mouth.  the clerk was talking on the phone and the smoker asked for a pack of cigarettes.  the clerk wordlessly went to get the requested pack.

a third customer: “you shouldn’t be smoking in here.”
clerk (momentarily leaving his telephone conversation): “hey!  why you asking the customer like that? [sic]”

at this point, i pipe up, thankful that the third customer relieved me of my burning obligation to raise the issue with the shopkeep.

me: “because it’s against the law, that’s why.”
clerk: “you don’t talk to my customers in this way!”
me: “you are abetting a violation of the law and could be fined.  heavily.”
third guy: “yeah, it’s against the law, that’s why.”
offending patron (to the third guy, puzzlingly): “i’ll remember you.”

he buys his smokes and exits.  the clerk then begins to berate the third customer, finger wagging and all.  above the tumult, i announce that my deli needs will henceforth be met elsewhere.  as i leave, i hear the clerk tell the third guy to get the hell out of his store and never come back.

truly bizarre.

I have a confession to make: I have only been in this bodega maybe twice in all the years I’ve lived here. I got a creepy “vibe” from the place and haven’t been back. Is R’s experience (and my gut instincts) par for the course for this establishment? Thoughts, anyone?

Miss Heather