Give someone an inch and they’ll take a yard: 2 (London)

On my way from the South Ken(sington) Tube station to the V&A (the Victoria and Albert Museum), I decided to pop into this art-book shop en route for a quick browse.  

At the counter were two men: one behind the counter, one in front.  There was a huge stack of carpet auction catalogues on the counter, each one only about ten or 12 pages, with beautiful photos and a brief description.  

The man in front of the counter was counting them:  1, 2, 3, …

Assuming he was staff, I asked the counting man, “How much are they?”  He said, “75p,” and carried on counting.  Even for 1985, 75p was very cheap — I could treat each one as a mini-art book to look through on rainy days.

I asked, “Can I buy them?”  The counting man said, “OK, you can have one.”  I said, “I want the whole lot.”  He stopped counting, and said, “No, you cannot have the whole lot.  I’ve just bought them, so I’m already very generous by letting you have one.”  Oops.

(London, 1985)