I ended up buying two books.

The challenge is no longer a challenge.

That's one of the reasons I'm not a thrill seeker; I get jaded to the "thrills."

I think more often than not that I reach a point at which I'll just let a thing go as opposed to actually being satisfied with it.

...

I had a 30% off coupon for any book I wished at Borders and I had some overtime money and I had some time on my hands.

I looked at books on graphic design and I looked at books that were Adobe related and then I looked a cookbooks.

I always try to buy the most expensive book I can find that I actually might use when I have a coupon 25% and above, I like to think that I'm sticking it to the man by doing such a thing.

There was this one book on cooking that is used in culinary schools that had a price of $104.00. I did the math in my head and thought that 10.40 times three ($31.20) subtracted from the price equaled $72.80. (And I still think that.)

Over seventy bucks for a book I won't properly use was more than I wanted to spend but I was determined to get a cookbook so I was milling about in that section when I notice some dude with his girlfriend taking photos of some books, the fronts and the backs.

I thought it was a little odd and most likely it was an action that was frowned upon by the establishment but I had my own worries, so I waited until he left that section before I went over to browse it.

I was in the cooking section for a good amount of time. I probably saw every book at least twice or so I would have thought until I noticed a set of car keys on the shelf. It was the shelf near where I saw the guy taking photos.

I looked up and around, not thinking that I would see the guy because nobody hangs out in the cooking section too long. I thought about just minding my own business and walking away from the keys, after all I was only guessing that they belonged to the guy with the camera.

I spotted his girlfriend first and then I thought, "What if they are her keys?" They weren't standing together, so I had to chose one of them to ask the question. I chose the dude.

I walked over, holding the keys as little as possible. He was occupied with fiddling with his camera. He had to have seen me approaching but he didn't look my way. I wasn't happy that I would have to get his attention and then ask the question.

"Sir," I said and received no reaction so I said it again and moved the keys into his field of vision, "Are these yours?"

He girlfriend had joined us by this time. He acknowledged that the keys were his and then sort of ignored me as he started speaking to his girlfriend, wondering how he could have dropped his keys. I thought he had might want to say "Thank you" or "Shit, yeah they're mine. Where'd you find them?" But no questions were directed at me, so I just walked away. I still hadn't found a book to buy.

I though he was self absorbed and socially inept. I pitied him a little because even though I often like to avoid people that I don't know, I do know how to interact with them when it's needed.

I ended up buying two cookbooks both under $26.00 which pretty much means that the man had stuck it to me. And I had to pay two bucks for parking.