A short dehydrated Asian girl (fresh off of a 12 hour flight from Shanghai after 16 months away from home) stood perplexedly in front of a display of bottled waters in an LAX airport store.
The girl’s stream of consciousness went a little something like this:
Cheapest bottle… cheapest bottle… aha! Dasani. $2.59— TWO FIFTY NINE USD?! That’s– that’s like 2.59 times 6.3…”
Her tired post-12-hr-flight brain clanks fruitlessly.
Fine. That’s two fifty times six equals— FIFTEEN KUAI for a freaking bottle of water?! This must be the expensive front-of-the-store waters!”
She trundle shuffle wobbles to the back of the store.
Water water– ooh!
Distraction ensues.
Lays BBQ chips!! Real BBQ that doesn’t taste like funky Chinese ‘Texas Barbecue Flavor’ chips!
Her parched throat protests.
Uh right, water! There. Dasani. Two Fifty Nine USD… Ack!
And so the disgruntled dehydrated girl engages the bottles of water in a staredown, trying to muster up the will to pay 15 kuai for a freaking bottle of water, when all of a sudden…
Huh. This situation feels weird. And unfamiliar… I don’t…
Then suddenly again…
OH! I never buy bottled water in the US!
Why?
Because…
Yes?
This great land of the USA has…
What?
WATER FOUNTAINS!!
Wow. Really. You’re joking right?
Yes! I mean no! Just– WOW!! Water fountains exist here! And– and– and-…
Speak child!
You can– you can actually DRINK from the TAP here!!! THE TAP!!! OMG!!!
*crickets*
And with that, the no longer disgruntled, but still quite dehydrated, and now thoroughly delighted girl skips out of the store (literally, skips out of the store) and to the nearest water fountain and slurps up the delicious, clean, FREE water.
Welcome back to the good ol’ USA, the land of omg water fountains!
[UTC-8 LA/San Diego 20111227 23:55]