#but didn't quite manage it

[oh-nostalgiaa]

ey, tom waits. 

i’m not much of a tom waits fan, but i’ve got stories. did i ever tell you guys my tom waits stories? probably not, because this was way before i ever had tumblr. 

okay, so, i worked in borders santa rosa for three years, right? and tom waits lives down in that area. my ex was very friendly with him, ‘cause he’d come into the safeway he worked at and talk to him about wine (ex was the liquor manager). so, that’s cool, ey, i know him by association!

i’m working the register at borders, and it’s busy, and i’m helping people as fast as i can without really paying much attention to them. so i help this customer, who is nice enough, understanding of the line, and i send him off with a cheery ‘have a nice day!, which he offers to me in return. the cashier next to me goes ‘oh, shit, lauren, i don’t know how you weren’t freaking out just now!’, and i was like ‘wtf, why would i freak out? do you know something i don’t know?’, and she was like ‘you really didn’t even notice that that was tom waits?’

and i was like, SHIT NO, i didn’t even LOOK at the guy! i mean, it would’ve been cool just to say ‘oh, hey, you know my husband, tim, the liquor manager at safeway’. i shrug, it just wasn’t meant to be. 

i don’t know how long later it was that he came through the line again, this time, helped by arun, who was standing right next to me. once again, i didn’t even fucking notice, and why would i? when it’s busy, you put your head down and you work. 

so he leaves, and arun was like ‘holy shit lauren, that was tom waits!’

and i was like ‘FUCKING AGAIN!!?!?!?!’

and that’s the story of how i totally didn’t even notice tom waits coming through my register.