QUILLBLOG

The charms of David Sedaris

David Sedaris has just swung through Canada to promote his latest book of essays, reminiscences, and exaggerations, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and there’s been lots of coverage. Like this Q&A with Hannah Sung on the CBC Arts site, which includes the following baffling excerpt:

Q: Do any recent encounters with fans stand out?

A: There was a guy last night at the reading whose parents are from India. I saw him standing there, and I said, “Do you work at Canadian Tire?” And he didn’t, he had some grown-up job, but he said, “It’s funny, everywhere I go, people ask me to get them another size or just ask me questions as if I work there.” I’d never in my life talked to anybody with that problem! It was fascinating to me. I absolutely love it when I learn about something like that.

We here at the Quillblog labs may just be missing something, or perhaps some detail has been lost in the telling, but we’ve been scratching our heads trying to figure out how that reply makes any kind of sense. Sedaris looks at a fan “whose parents are from India” and asks if he works at Canadian Tire? (And to those who do work at Canadian Tire: don’t worry, you may work your way up to a “grown-up job” yet.)

If anyone can clear things up for us, hey, that’s what the comments section is for.