Oh my God what an afternoon!  After school I took Grace and friends into the city where they had to get money back for tickets bought for the Sam Smith concert in Milan that has been canceled because he is getting throat surgery.  GP had bought ME a ticket as well for my birthday, knowing that I love his music.  It would have been the first concert I'd been to in years!  It's cancelled.  Shit.  Anywho.. so while the girls were off doing their thing I decided to look in the shops for some summer clothes.  I went into a small shop in the city center where I have bought things in the past but they didn't have anything that interested me.  I tried on a blouse that didn't fit right so thanked them and started to leave when one of the owners said, " If you aren't going to buy anything, don't bother coming in."  I was so flabbergasted I stood there with my mouth hanging open.  Customer service is certainly not a strong point in shopping in Italy but this was over the top.  I was so angry I felt like I was going to cry so I stomped right off and spent way too much money in another shop where they kissed my ass!    Then I walked by the first shop with my large shopping bag swinging.  I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.  Only not so pretty.  After that exhausting experience I still had to wait for Grace for a while so I parked illegally near our meet -up point with my blinkers on and read.  Alas she was longer than expected and I drained my car battery.  I was parked next to a Taxi stand where about 10 cabs were waiting so I wandered over and asked if any of them could help me jump start my car.  They all looked at me like I was a lunatic and blatantly said "No, we don't do that'.  What the f***?  In the States they would have tripped over each other trying to help.  This is so typical here.  If you are family or a friend people will bend over backwards for you.  But most Italians won't lift a finger or spare a dime for strangers.  GP thankfully was home and came to the rescue.  Grace and I stopped and picked up Thank You pizza on the way home.  I'm never leaving the house again.  xxoo me