{"id":92615,"date":"2015-12-07T18:15:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T23:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=92615"},"modified":"2015-12-07T18:27:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T23:27:26","slug":"making-cameos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Cameos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Not a good gift.<\/p><\/div>\n

There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative dish where you could leave your spare change\u2014noncommittal things just north of impersonal. I\u2019d have gone there more, but for the saleslady.<\/p>\n

She was sour. I mean, really puckered\u2014the sort of acerbic person whose life needs an injection of sunshine from a Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm or an Anne of Green Gables or a Pollyanna. The requisite plucky orphan never seems to have come into her life. The first time I visited her shop, there were some other customers there. \u201cCan I buy these individually?\u201d one asked her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, just as a set,\u201d she said curtly. After the shoppers left, she turned to me. \u201cCan you believe what assholes people are?\u201d she demanded balefully. \u201cThis is what I deal with all day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next time I came in, another customer made the mistake of answering his phone. \u201cI can\u2019t talk right now,\u201d he said, but the damage was done, because the saleslady met my eyes and mouthed, \u201cUnbelievable<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a while I assumed she must be the owner, but then, on my third visit, after I asked what she\u2019d recommend for a friend\u2019s housewarming, she said, \u201cNothing. Personally, I hate everything here. The owner has shit taste.\u201d Later still\u2014and perhaps I should mention that all this happened over the course of about a year\u2014I would learn from her that said owner was \u201ca total bitch.\u201d This saleswoman seemed to be the only employee, although it took me a while to figure that out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite all these confidences, I didn\u2019t fancy we had any special relationship; her asides were too easily given and totally unearned on my part. I knew I was just as likely the focus of her ire the moment I left the shop; I was sure of it the day I bought a ten dollar\u00a0hourglass for a birthday gift over her vocal objections. \u201cI\u2019d hate to get that,\u201d she said flatly, and the thing was, she wasn\u2019t wrong, it was a horrible present, but I really wanted to leave. And when she saw me pass by, she\u2019d wave, grimly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I avoided that side of the street, in fact. I went in very infrequently; she was depressing, and I disliked her and thought she was terribly unprofessional, and I was also sure that I would soon do something to make her hate me. But one day, I passed the store and saw a TO LET<\/small>\u00a0sign in the window. When I went in, she was saying to two women, \u201cthey don\u2019t tell\u00a0me<\/em>\u00a0anything.\u00a0People keep asking me\u00a0what\u2019s going on<\/em>, and it\u2019s very annoying.\u201d She glared at them. But after they\u2019d left\u2014empty-handed\u2014she told me, \u201dI can\u2019t believe I might have to find a new job. At my age. I mean, it\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later, I would think: someone\u2019s life is in crisis, and all you can think about is that now you\u2019ll be able to walk on this side of the street without thinking about her. And you\u2019ll never think of her again. But the strange thing is, I think about her daily, whenever I see that hourglass on the shelf, because it was too depressing to give anyone, and there but for the grace of God, et cetera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative dish where you could leave your spare change\u2014noncommittal things just north of impersonal. I\u2019d have gone there more, but for the saleslady. She was sour. I mean, really puckered\u2014the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[12511,20469,451,20470,6664],"class_list":["post-92615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-city-life","tag-gift-shops","tag-gifts","tag-shopkeepers","tag-shopping"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sour Shopkeeper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 7, 2015 \u2013 There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making Cameos by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 7, 2015 \u2013 There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-07T23:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-07T23:27:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"614\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1023\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Making Cameos\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-07T23:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-07T23:27:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png\",\"keywords\":[\"City Life\",\"gift shops\",\"gifts\",\"shopkeepers\",\"shopping\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\",\"name\":\"The Sour Shopkeeper\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-07T23:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-07T23:27:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"December 7, 2015 \u2013 There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Making Cameos\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sour Shopkeeper","description":"December 7, 2015 \u2013 There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Making Cameos by Sadie Stein","og_description":"December 7, 2015 \u2013 There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-12-07T23:15:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-07T23:27:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":614,"height":1023,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Making Cameos","datePublished":"2015-12-07T23:15:02+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-07T23:27:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/"},"wordCount":608,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png","keywords":["City Life","gift shops","gifts","shopkeepers","shopping"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/","name":"The Sour Shopkeeper","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png","datePublished":"2015-12-07T23:15:02+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-07T23:27:26+00:00","description":"December 7, 2015 \u2013 There was this shop in the neighborhood where I\u2019d sometimes go. It was a good spot to find inexpensive gifts: small vases, lacquered boxes, a decorative","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hourglass.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/making-cameos\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Making Cameos"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92615"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92649,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92615\/revisions\/92649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}