Dear Maggie,

The other day when I was shopping at TJ Maxx, this woman I did not know and had never met, walked up to offer her opinion on the jacket my adult daughter was trying on. She was overweight, frumpy looking, badly dressed, had hair 20 years out of style, and looked around 58. I point that out for a reason.

Okay, so this woman just strikes up a conversation and I tried to be polite. But it kept going. And she says, “Ask me what I do!” so I did, and she replied by telling me that she’s with an agency out of Vegas that manages some of our top rap music artists.

Oookay. And she’s shopping at TJ Maxx? In Binghamton? Wearing that?

And then she went on about her favorite rapper being “M” and begins to tell us why, using the foulest of language, in a very loud voice, in a store full of other customers including small children nearby.

My daughter and I kept sidling away, but she kept following us, still yammering on. Eventually we got away from her, but it was very creepy.

Please tell me two things:

a. What did we do to attract that kind of nutcase? (It seems to happen to me a lot.)

b. What was the proper reaction?

Signed,