The woman had been feeling uneasy even before she stepped inside the tackle shop.
Something about the strangely quiet store, the dim lighting, and the lone cashier standing perfectly still behind the counter made her hesitate.
Still, she brushed off the feeling—after all, she only needed a simple birthday gift for her grandson. She had no idea the visit would leave her questioning everything she understood about “blindness.”
She wandered the aisles, unsure of fishing gear, and eventually picked out a rod and reel at random. At the counter, she asked, “Sir, could you tell me anything about this rod and reel?”
The cashier, wearing dark sunglasses, replied, “Ma’am, I’m completely blind. But if you drop it on the counter, I can identify everything just by the sound.”
Skeptical but curious, she let the rod and reel fall.
“That’s a six-foot Shakespeare graphite rod with a Zebco 404 reel and 10-pound test line. Great basic combo—and this week it’s only $20,” he said.
Impressed, she exclaimed, “Unbelievable! All that just from the sound? I’ll take it!”
As she opened her purse, her credit card slipped and hit the floor.
“Ah, that’s a MasterCard,” the man commented.
Bending down to pick it up, she accidentally let out a fart. Mortified at first, she quickly reassured herself: He’s blind; he can’t possibly know it was me—there’s nobody else around.
After finishing the sale, he said calmly, “Your total is $34.50.”
Perplexed, she asked, “Wait—didn’t you say the rod and reel were $20? How did it become $34.50?”
The blind clerk smiled faintly. “Yes, ma’am, the rod and reel are $20… but the duck call is $11, and the bear repellent comes to $3.50.”
As she hurried out of the store clutching her purchase, the woman couldn’t decide whether to be offended, amazed, or utterly bewildered. One thing was certain, though: she would never underestimate a blind cashier again—and she definitely wasn’t coming back to that tackle shop anytime soon.