The first few posts of this blog are going to be entries that I’ve been collecting. I’ve been saving these for a while and finally have a forum for sharing them.

My husband and I went on vacation to Banff last September. Banff is a quintessential resort town about an hour and a half away from Calgary, Canada. We first went to Banff for our honeymoon seven years ago and always wanted to go back. Right in the heart of downtown Banff is Banff Avenue, with shops and restaurants lining both sides of the street. It was in one of those classic souvenir shops that I spotted this:

I couldn’t resist–I had to take a picture of it! My husband asked me if I wanted to buy it; I was afraid I would look like a FOB wearing it so I declined. Plus I am not in the habit of buying tee-shirts on our travels. At most we buy magnets to remember all the places we’ve been. You should see our refrigerator.

On the last day of our trip, we went back to this souvenir shop on Banff Avenue so that I could reconsider buying the tee-shirt. It was my last chance. When I walked up to the rack, I saw that the tee-shirts were gone! The whole stack of them were gone. I went up to the counter and asked the woman (an Asian woman) where those tee-shirts were, the brown ones I saw the other day with the bear paw on them.

Her English wasn’t that good, but she was saying something like, they’re in the back. Our conversation continued:

“Can I see one of them please?”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’d like one in small.”

“You know, there is mistake.”

“I know. I would like to buy one in small.”

She went to the back of the store to get one for me. I held it up to make sure it was the right size.

“How much is it?”

“Ten dollah plus tax.”

“Ten dollars?!? Hmmm, can I have a discount because there is a mistake on it?”

“No, no discount.”

“But there is a mistake on them. You can’t even sell them anymore.”

“No, no discount. Only give tax free. Ten dollah.”

So I bought a tee-shirt with a typo on it for 10 dollars. At least I didn’t have to pay tax.

March 19, 2011
Update: I’ve worn this tee-shirt in public on many occasions and I have RARELY gotten any comments about the typo. Are people not reading my shirt or not seeing the typo?