Now Where Am I?

I went to the mall yesterday and, as I was walking back to the trolley, a young man passed me and said, "How's it goin'?" I said, "Not bad, how are you?" He said something like, "Fuck you," or "Get the fuck out of here." There've been a few instances like this since I got back from Japan. It's one of the things that give me this strange feeling that I didn't come back to America at all but am really in some kind of America simulation. It seems to be more common now for someone to yell out, "Gay!" when they see me. At another mall a couple months ago, two large women sitting at a table started making raspberries at me. It was so strange, I couldn't even be offended, I just stared at them as I walked by, amazed that adults would behave in this manner. And I've never been called "Indiana Jones" so much in the thirty years I've been wearing fedoras. I used to occasionally get a "Hey, cowboy!" or even "Hey, Monet." I'm not sure why people associated fedoras specifically with Claude Monet but I got it more than once so it must be a thing. More frequently, people called me Michael Jackson, if I was wearing a black fedora. But I never heard anything as frequently as I've heard Indiana Jones cracks in the months since I returned from Japan. One guy drove all the way across the parking lot when I didn't acknowledge his crack the first time. I was almost out of the parking lot when he caught up to me in his truck to yell, "Watch out for snakes!" Sure, I thought it was a reference to Mystery Science Theatre 3000 at first but then I realised it was another Indiana Jones crack.

I realised two interesting things from this. For one, Dial of Destiny was so bad it's kind of ruined Indiana Jones. For another, Americans are a lot ruder than they used to be. Wondering if this was my imagination, I asked Google's AI, "Are people ruder since Covid?" and received this confirmation:

"Yes, empirical data and behavioral studies confirm that public behavior has noticeably deteriorated since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a comprehensive Pew Research Center survey, 47% of adults report that public behavior is ruder than it was pre-pandemic, with 20% stating it is 'a lot ruder.' Only 9% of people believe public interaction has become more polite."

I should also note I get a lot more compliments, too. People more often randomly say nice things about my clothes or my moustache. I wonder if people are consciously trying to counter the rise in discourtesy.

I also wonder sometimes why all these people seem to be seeing me for the first time. I lived in San Diego for 40 years, mostly in the relatively small suburb of Santee. Surely people are used to seeing me. But then I remembered how expensive everything has gotten, particularly housing. Added to the fact that people who were 15 when I left are now 21, there's basically a new population of adults, some who've grown into adulthood and some who are new wealthy residents as the area has become gentrified.

I've seen a couple familiar faces. The owner of a Mexican restaurant I used to frequent recognised me. He even remembered my usual order though I'd never spoken much to him. Then, the last time I went there, he told me they were closing the mall food court where his shop had been located for decades. I guess you really can't go home again.