Southernisms

Li'l Bit (aka "Rella") accompanied me to the warehouse club tonight. She purchased a video game, the kind where you take a card to the cashier, pay for the game, and then take your receipt to customer service to pick up the actual game.

One of the differences between the South and the Midwest is that in the South, strangers banter and cut up with you more. I haven't been around that type of banter in more than 20 years, and my children have never been around it.

I sent Li'l Bit to customer service ahead of me to pick up her game and I stayed back to give her an opportunity to step up and handle the interaction without me. (I was a bit dismayed to see the customer service employee give two co-workers more attention than my daughter as she took the receipt from her and went to find the game.)

The game is a sing-along game, and when the customer service employee saw the title, with a big, friendly smile and a bit of a laugh, she asked Li'l Bit if she could come to her house and play it with her.

Li'l Bit is very literal. Being literal is common in autism. That poor customer service lady had no idea how my girl was interpreting the banter.

No problem.

Here's where it got exciting:

Li'l Bit gave me a look, eyebrows up, with a question in her face, that, to me, said, "how do I answer that question?" and I grinned and told the woman, "ABSOLUTELY!"

(DO.YOU.KNOW.HOW.ABSOLUTELY.POSITIVELY.HUGE.THAT.KIND.OF.REFERENCING.IS?!?!?!?!)
Turns out, there was more to come. At this store, you must show your receipt to an employee at the exit, while that employee checks the receipt against the items in your cart. He noticed the sing-along game, too, and had to pick on my girl a little bit. She didn't know what to think or how to respond to it. I answered him for her, she nodded along with what I said.

This will be a fun development to watch.