Our youngest daughter is getting her first car. Since it has to be in my name, I was at AAA to do all the paperwork yesterday. The whole thing has been more complicated than usual since I am buying an old clunker from a friend of mine who lives in the PRNJ. But I got the extra papers done, and appeared at AAA, OC as usual.

When I signed in, the receptionist warned me that it might be a little while, as there was a group in front of me. The "group" consisted of three men. So I sat down to wait. The three were drifting around from display to display in the store, talking quietly amongst themselves. They eventually came around behind where I was sitting, which I did not care for, but I could hear by their voices they were still fairly far away. At this point I realized I still had to notify my insurance company about the "new" car, so I called my agent. While I was on the phone, the youngest of the three men started swearing loudly about how f***** up this place was, and about how long he had been there, blah blah blah.

Not only was I having trouble hearing, but now I had an angry man behind me. So I stood up and turned to face the group as I concluded my call. While I was still on the phone, I made eye contact with the loudmouth. He started talking to me! I pressed the end button (we don't really hang up anymore, do we?) and put my phone away. This loser was still talking to me. I reestablished eye contact, and in a very stern and somewhat loud voice myself, I said,

"You know, it's real hard to hear on the phone with you swearing and yelling like that!"

All at once, the guy went pale, his eyes bulged out, and he started to apologize profusely, saying he was sorry over and over. It may have been the tone of voice I used, or the fact that he only came up to my shoulder, or he may have finally noticed the stainless Colt on my hip. In any case, after five or six "I'm really sorry man", he turned and moved to a distance away from me.

Finally my turn came. The lady who took care of my paperwork was about my age. That would be elderly for some of you here. She was snickering, and told me that the receptionist had "warned" her that I had a gun. "So what?" was her response to that. "If he has a gun, he most likely has a permit to carry it."

(editorial note: once again, I did not feel compelled to correct her usage of the word permit, although I did use the term license in my own speech.)

She went on to tell me a funny story which I will not repeat for several reasons. Suffice to say she has family members who carry as well. While we were completing the paperwork another woman appeared, and the lady with me had to tell her story about the receptionist all over again. The other lady was indifferent as well. She had been helping the "polite gentleman" who was swearing earlier on. It turns out that some people show up to buy or sell cars without the appropriate paperwork - like a valid ID. Then they wonder why things take so long. I told them both about my own interaction with him. That generated quite a bit of laughter. So anyway, AAA was very OC friendly, at least for me, and I suspect that by now the receptionist knows that it isn't really an item to cause concern. And somewhere, there may be a young man who has learned to be a little more mannerly in his way of speaking - but I doubt it.