The koala bear12
In one area of a variety store I saw a chandelier for $10, and nearby was a very tiny koala bear. There was no price anywhere on the koala bear, but since it was in the same place as the chandelier, I thought perhaps everything in that area was $10. So I decided to buy the koala bear, and I gave the lady $10.She said, “It is $13. Can’t you see the price?”
I said, “It doesn’t have a price.” I really got disgusted. She was so rude.
She looked at me and said, “All right, you can have it for $11.”
I said to myself, “I am not going to get it,” and I walked away. But then I thought; “These are very old people. Perhaps they are senile.” So I went back again.
When I went back in, the lady said to her husband, “There! I told you he was going to come back.”
Again I got disgusted. I said, “I am only going to buy the chandelier, not the koala bear.”
LS 55. 12 February 1983↩
Sri Chinmoy, I love shopping, part 2, Agni Press, 1986