My first full day in Merced was Monday and it was quite a day. It started out very calm. I unpacked several boxes and began to find places to put my belongings. I also chatted with my roommate for a little bit. Although I don't remember all the details of the conversation, I do know that my roommate mentioned that she had a friend name Tyrese. I said something to the effect of "Tyrese, like the singer?" She said yes. I thought to myself that I didn't expect there to be a "Tyrese" in Merced. I also figured he was black given his name. It would be really funny if a white family named their son Tyrese. The conversation ended and decided to leave the house to run some errands.
I headed off to Costco to do some shopping. It was pretty easy to get around the store because Costco had the exact same layout as the one I used to frequent in Richmond. I'm guessing that every Costco store has the same layout, which struck me a very efficient way to do store layout on the nationwide basis. In any case, I stood in line to get checked out and the register next to my line opened. The cashier called me over to the open line, sparing me what likely would have been a 15 minute wait. I noticed that the cashier was black. As I started to slide my card and look up, I saw that the cashier's nametag said "Tyrese". I figure it has to be the same person who my roommate mentioned earlier. I'm also thinking that it would be really weird if it was that same person. Aside from randomly choosing Costco as a first destination, I only had about a 1/10 chance of picking his line. Actually, a 0/9 chance until his line opened right next to the line I picked. Then It was 1/10 I suppose.
I wanted to say something to him – perhaps ask him if he knew my roommate. But then I remembered the context of which we discussed him and I figured it would be weird. Some quick background: I live in a four bedroom house which has two occupants (including myself). The landlord has been trying to rent out the rooms in the house, but in the last three years – there has been a max of two people in the house at any given time. My roommate informed me that we might have a third person moving in soon. A girl from a small town near Yosemite. Tyrese is her boyfriend – and that's how he came up in conversation. End of background. So consider this line: "I'm dtrizzle, I'm the dude who is going to be living with your girlfriend." Yeah, probably not a good idea. So although I figured he was the right person, I kept my mouth closed.
After paying for my groceries, I headed to the exit. And there she was. My roommate was the one checking receipts at the store exit. I was confused because I had no idea she worked at Costco. Further, when I left the house, she was still there. She had mentioned in the past that she did security. I may have seen some Costco documents around the house, but didn't make much of them at the time. In any case, she made sure I wasn't stealing anything and marked my receipt. I told her that I had been checked out by someone named Tyrese and asked if that was the same person she was talking about. Yes, it was. And at that moment – after running into my roommate an hour after talking to her and running into the boyfriend of a potential future roommate, I realized that Merced is a really really really small town.
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