Le money-shot

Recently a young woman came into the store where I work, wearing an obscene t-shirt - and I don't think she had any idea what it meant. It really bothered me a lot, and I'm not sure why.

Normally a t-shirt reading "I'm ready for my money-shot" would just make me curl my lip a little, just because it's lame. But everything about this girl - her manner, her mother, and particularly her French mother-tongue - led me to think she actually had no idea what the words meant. I mean, anything is possible. But I really can't believe that this particular girl wanted her mother and all the sales clerks of Laurier avenue to have to picture her on the receiving end of a cum-shot.

She probably thought it meant "I'm ready for my close-up."

It felt demeaning, not so much to her, but generally. Who was responsible for this grotesque misunderstanding? The whole ugly world was suspect. The girl, meanwhile, just walked blissfully under her veil of ignorance, prattling to her mum about spatulas and salt cellars.

I have no idea whether I should have told her. I decided not to, partly because she was so oblivious and having a nice time with her mum and I couldn't bear to sully their little outing. I also wasn't sure there was even a point, since if she didn't know, what harm did it do? Mainly, I just chickened out, like I do all the time. The whole thing made me feel gross. Like a character in this story by Sherman Alexie, I just wanted SOMEBODY to DO SOMETHING - somebody who wasn't me.

I told myself a little while ago that if I don't start acting on the things I feel I ought to act upon, I am going to kill my soul. The man who was having trouble standing, leaning against a garbage, who I should have offered to help. The person who blindly opened their car door into the bike path ahead of me, who I should have told off.

But this girl - I dunno. Maybe she'll tire of the shirt for other reasons. Maybe she never has to know. Maybe ignorance really is bliss. If it was me, though, I would have wanted somebody to tell me.