Things you don't expect.

"I'm tired of buying crap that doesn't last..."  Okay, a pretty normal statement I suppose, but a tad more surprising when it comes from the mild mannered middle aged grocery clerk you see from day to day as he moves into a rant about current technology.  Okay.. perhaps I should back up a bit...

The little old lady ahead of me in line was clearly no match for the interac terminal. The first time she swiped her card and did nothing until the clerk reminded her she had to press some buttons. By then it was too late and the card had to be swiped again.  This time she entered the numbers, but somehow they didn't work. The clerk was trying to be gentle, but had to raise his voice to her because she couldn't hear him otherwise. By this point others in line had quickly fled to other registers knowing this would be a long ordeal, but I wasn't in a hurry and was morbidly curious to see how this would turn out. Finally, another elderly lady who had come with her on the shuttle, who wasn't quite as old, paid the bill (it was a hefty one too- in case one wonders why I didn't just volunteer to pay it... )

As she walked away I commented to the clerk about how fast things change and how hard it must be, and suddenly the rant was on.  Now those who know me are well aware of my Macintosh snobbery, and the truth is that I revel in any opportunity to brag about how a Mac will last at least twice as long as any PC, and this was honestly the perfect opportunity to do so. As he complained about all the new computers coming out that don't last, I slipped in the comment "That's why I love my Mac.. lasted me 6 years easy."  His eyes lit up....

This is where it gets surprising folks.  "Oh I know," he said with a smile. "I've been a loyal Apple user since Lisa came out."   LISA. Now I don't expect anyone reading this blog (all 2 of you probably) to even know what LISA is. Up until last year I didn't even know until I decided to brush up on my Apple history.  Lisa was a Computer/Operating system with a full graphical interface developed in 1978 (more than a wee bit before Windows 1 it must be noted).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lisa
I realized quickly that I wasn't just talking to an apple user- I was talking to an Apple Guru. Someone who had stayed loyal through the test of time, right from pretty much the beginning.  I was out Apple Snobbed by the mild mannered clerk at Safeway- and I walked out with a smile.