Injustice at the bookstore

I was in a bookstore when I came across, of all things, a book. I picked it up and a woman about 15 feet away said, “Sir.” I thought she had mistaken me for an employee and was going to ask a question but when I looked her way she said, in a perturbed tone, “That’s mine.” I said, “I’m sorry,” and put the book down. She gave me a dirty look and an almost imperceptible nod. It was the kind of reaction I would have expected had I walked into her house and started browsing her personal library. I had to respond. I said, “You’ll want to be careful bringing books into a bookstore, you might loose them among the other books - sort of like bringing trees into a forest. Also, someone might think you stole it.” Then she tried to explain that she didn’t bring the book, she was going to buy it. I told her I knew what she meant and that I was just repaying her rudeness with smart-aleck remarks.

The fall-out from her rudeness was that it put me in a bad mood and ruined my bookstore experience. I wish I really had said that stuff instead of walking away, seething.