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Here is one story retold,
albeit with a pithier ending:
From Slip Up:
Kiosk Kaos
What happened: It was saturday afternoon, and me and two friends were at the mall. We were having so much fun, we decided it would be nice to buy a disposable camera. We stopped on the way to the camera store at a Watch Kiosk. Making chit chat, I asked, "Do you have any cameras? Disposable cameras?"
She gave me a POISONOUS look and said, "This is a watch kiosk."
What I said: Absolutley nothing. I was stunned at my own stupidity. I walked away, my face burning.
What I SHOULD have said: I don't think I could have said ANYTHING that would have helped me. Any suggestions?
Note: Later, while trying to think of something to redeem myself, I said, "HA! She's the idiot! Its KOISK not Kiosk!"
Again, hopeless.
L'esprit d'escalier
The French call it l'esprit d'escalier, "the wit of the staircase," those biting ripostes that are thought of just seconds too late, on the way out of the room-or even, to tell the truth, days later. It's happened to you: you've suddenly thought of just what would put your foe in his or her place, but past the time when the arrow could sting its victim. You've stewed in your own juice ever since, and the chance for singeing repartee is gone forever.
Or is it?
Dorothy Parker or Oscar Wilde may have had the rapier wit to tweak their tormentors on the spot, but for the rest of us, we offer the Internet's only L'esprit d'escalier web site!
