A&P (story)
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"A&P" is a short story by John Updike in which the hero and first person narrator seemingly takes a stand for his version of what is right, only to face disappointment.
Sammy, a teenage clerk in an A&P grocery is working the cash register on a hot summer day when 3 young women about his age enter, barefoot and clad only in swimsuits, to purchase some herring snacks.
Lengel, the prudish manager of the store, feels that the women are not clothed appropriately, but still allows them to purchase their items, admonishing them that this isn't the beach and that they must come in properly dressed next time.
Sammy is offended by this mistreatment of these customers' dignity, and as a gesture, ceremoniously removes his store apron and resigns on the spot, despite the mention by the manager of the lengths to which Sammy's father had gone to get him this summer job. Sammy then leaves the store, seemingly in expectation of some display of affection or appreciation from the young women involved, only to find that they've already left, apparently oblivious to his presence. Sammy's disappointment in this development strikes a very typical Updike theme.
