After you, sir. No, after you...

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Just a silly little story about going to the shops...

I shop very frequently at the small supermarket just down the road from me - it's convenient, the staff are really nice and I can have a laugh with them about my strange shopping habits, and there are only four or five aisles so that I don't get swamped with too many products to choose from. (I'd love there to be a store with only one kind of everything - just called "Bread", "Cookies", "Bar of Soap").

The layout of the store is a bit weird because it's in a rather old building. After paying at the tills, you walk all the way along one of the side walls, then there is a very abrupt corner immediately before the door.

So, I've just done my shopping, in a bit of world of my own as usual because I'm relieved that the shopping trip is just about done. I turn the corner at the door, and see that there is a rather shabby looking older gentleman on the other side of the door, about to come in, which startles me for a moment. Ever the polite gent, I step back and make a vague "you first" gesture. At the exact same time, he does the same thing, inviting me to go first. OK, I think to myself, I don't want this to develop into a "mexican stand off", so I step forward for the door - at the exact same moment that he does, of course!

A couple more times we try to work out who's going first. Then it gets really weird. I see what I can only describe as ghost or apparition, seeming to pass right through the man on the other side of the door. Wooooo, that made me jump, I can say!!

Then it dawns on me - the shabby old gent looks really familiar, I'm sure I know him from somewhere.

Then the penny drops. It's me!
It's just dark outside so that my reflection shows in the glass!!

What's more embarrassing, is that I actually do this about twice every week, and it still catches me out every single damned time! I'm not quite sure that I want to know who the people in the shop think I'm standing there being so polite to!

Nothing wrong with a little self respect.

^^

That's a very funny story. It made my day.

Haha that is awesome. When prosopagnosia backfires on yourself...

Cheers

I do seem to have a little bit of a problem with mirrors in general. When tested by my Occupational Therapist, I don't seem to be so good at translating what I see in the mirror into the world behind my back. I usually have a beard because shaving takes me ages - if I see a spot I missed, I have to feel around with my hand to work out where I need to put the razor.

I can sure understand why some people, especially in ancient times, might find mirrors a bit "magical", and why they appear in so many mythological stories.