I wonder if I’ve mentioned to you that my MacBook Pro weighs like 60 pounds. So I don’t really  take much pleasure in carrying it around, but I live such a vagabond life that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me not to carry it around in spite of all of the objections of my arms and shoulders. Tonight, I was working on a cover letter at a cafe table at this extravagantly immense Whole Foods and after guzzling down a bottle of kombucha … well let’s just say I decided to place my faith in the world and very purposefully left the laptop on the table while I excused myself to “the facility.” And when I returned, I was gently admonished by a Whole Foods employee for leaving a laptop unaccompanied, especially because there are no cameras around to document any thefts that might occur. At first I was a bit miffed because, after all, it is entirely my right to leave things out in the open at risk of theft if I want to. An inalienable right. And maybe I really did want to explore how far my faith/trust could take me. And here he was, almost patronizing me.

But then it hit me that he was not speaking as an employee, but as a concerned human in a community. And I expressed my appreciation. And I meant it.

But I’m not quite so sure about the absence of cameras. My friend L once told me about the time she was passing by the nuts section, and she could not help but grab a few stray cashews that had escaped the bin. Almost immediately, some sort of robot appeared to scold and intimidate her. I have never seen any robots at Whole Foods, but L is the last person I would ever doubt. If you knew her, you would agree.