Paper fight.

On Sunday I got in a fight at the local French bakery place. These two old weird guys - one white and bald on top w/a strangely dark pink face, and the other Asian and quiet with black hair, and also bald on top - were there with their new friend, this balder young German guy who always wears athletic wear and talks loudly in a thick German accent.

Anyhow, the two older men had a huge pile of all the coffee shop's copy of the Sunday NTimes on the table and none of them were reading any of it, so I went up and asked them if I could look at what sections they had, I was hoping to read the front page and the Week in Review (they had those 2, and then the Arts and Entertainment, the Styles section, the Magazine, and something else - that is, everything good, the only shit they didn't have was the Travel and Business sections).

"I'm sorry," the German guy was like, "I'm going to read that in 5 minutes," and then he picked up the papers and, while still holding them, was like, "What else do you want?"

"I'm sorry," I was like, "But are you reading the paper now?"

"No, I'm reading it in 5 minutes," the German guy was like.

"I'm sorry," I was like, "But are you reading that section of the paper now?", and I just stood there with my arms folded while the guy waited for me to tell him what section I wanted so he could dribble it out to me.

"I'm just really confused," I was like, like after about 10 seconds of pregnant pause, "Is this your paper, or the coffee shop's?", and at that the guy got embarrassed and gave me the sections I wanted, and made up some lame excuse that he never gives them out since people never bring them back.

Anyhow, after I was there and had finished the sections, I brought them back nicely, and after I gave them back, the older guy with the really pink face was like, "Pardon me young man, but are you usually that rude? You never said please, and people never come up and grab papers off of other people's tables."

"I'm sorry," I was like, "But if you have a complaint, let's talk with the manager," and then he said something combative, and I was like, "I'm sorry, I don't have to put up w/this, if you don't want to come with me, I'm going to talk to the manager now," and while he was saying "Can you believe that?" to his friends, I went up and said something to the countergirl, and she was making a cappucino (sp.?) and said she'd be right w/me, and all of a sudden this shorter woman beside me was like, "Hey, listen to him, he's a solid guy, not a crazy," and I turn and it's the communications directory from school in there with her two small children after synagogue.

Anyhow, I talked to the countergirl and she said she was sorry, and asked me if I was able to get the sections I wanted, and when I said yes, she said she wouldn't talk to the men, then.

Later, the communications director from school said that the guys are local crazies who have nothing else to do and are kind of out of it, and I shouldn't back down if they're so out of whack that they don't know common courtesy surrounding a public paper.

Anyhow, what I'm wondering is what's going to happen when I'm in there next Sat. or Sun., since these guys always hog the public paper, and though I'll be nice, there's no way I'm going to say 'please' to them.