“This might be TMI…” began a local clerk the other day when I was buying a bag of potato chips.
TMI, for those who don’t know, is an acronym people use before saying something they absolutely should not say. It stands for “Too Much Information.” It’s basically an extreme mispronunciation of, “Cover your ears.”
“… but I had to have a toenail removed because of a fungus issue,” the person continued.
“Oh,” I replied, holding my wallet in my hand and waiting for the clerk to finish the story and scan my Pringles. I looked behind me at the half dozen people waiting in line, trying to simultaneously indicate to the clerk that we were in public, and to them that I did now know the person I was speaking to. “I’m … sorry?”
“Then I stubbed my toe, and wow, it really hurts when you don’t have a toenail,” they added in what was, I believe, the summit of this unexpected narrative mountain.
