A Rude Awakening

Today I was out running a few errands for my upcoming trip to Germany. I'm leaving in just a few days and needless to say, I have not done much to get ready (our bags are not packed, I only have one hotel reservation, and I just reserved a car last night). With the count down on, I figured I better go and get the few items needed for our trip.

On the list an adapter plug for our computer and blow dryer. I'm not sure that all of the inns we will be staying at (wherever they may be--we do not have a concrete itinerary) will have a blow dryer and that is the one thing that I need. I never take the time to blow dry my entire head, but I at least like to tame the front of my hair with my Conair 500. I digress, the point of my story is my search for the adapter. I ended up at Radio Shack where a very gregarious, twentysomething salesman was happy to help me find what I needed.

He advised me to get a voltage converter for my blow dryer and a smaller adapter plug for the computer and cell phone (my means for staying connected to the rest of my family back at home). He told me that a cell phone will automatically adapt to the higher voltage but I should check my charger to see if it has a 120-200 voltage range stamped on the back. To make sure I understood, he showed me what numbers to look for on a charger he had in the store. And this is when I had my rude awakening.......as he handed me a charger he asked me if I could read the numbers or would I need some reading glasses to see them! Much to my dismay, my highlighted hair (to cover the gray) and non-mom jeans did not disguise the fact that I am of a certain age that may need reading glasses. Wahhhh!

I stifled the gasp that was about to escape my lips and instead told him that I could see the numbers just fine! I quickly grabbed the charger and rattled off the numbers, just to prove how keen my eyesight is! And then I picked up another and probably more loudly than I needed to, read off the numbers (he must have thought I was also losing my hearing). Reading glasses! Hah!

As I put down the chargers (with a "take that you twit" attitude), I almost asked "How old do you think I am?" But then realized that I really didn't want to hear his answer. I figured I better grab my purchases and go and quit while I was ahead.