My Own Version of Crash

I was in Los Angeles last week, hosting a radio show down there. Had a lovely time. Thanks for asking. For lunch, I sometimes went to a little cafe in the building. One of those featureless lunch places found in office parks. I ordered the California Club sandwich, figuring since I was in California I might as well. The guy working there kept glaring at me while he made the sandwich. I wondered what I had done wrong. I will point out here that he was of a different ethnicity, which is something I thought of only because I had recently seen Crash and while I hated it I wondered if that's what LA was really like. So anyway, back to the sandwich. Finally, he handed it to me.

HIM: There was no bacon. We're out.
ME: Oh. Okay.
HIM: So I put some extra turkey on there. And guacamole. You understand?
ME: Yes. Yes, I think so.
HIM: So now we're even. Okay?
ME: We're even?
HIM: We're even.
ME: Okay.

I guess if you're in the cop business or the gang business or the movie business, they make an epic film of your conflicts. But if you're in food service or public radio, you're left to make your own drama out of a club sandwich and the sense of uneasy justice arrived at through bacon substitution. I'm glad we're even.