What you reading... (for)?

Having perused the newspaper racks in the palatial surroundings of a British Petroleum forecourt this evening, I lifted a copy of The Independent and strode towards the counter with a chip in one hand and a pin in the other to make my purchase:

Me: "Just pump six and this please" [handing over The Independent]
She: [waving paper at laser thing] "That's a strange paper for a lad of your age to be reading."

Shocking. What should I be reading... The Dependent? I'm 22 years of age I'll have you know. But then again if there was a paper called The Dependent, I'd probably read it because I consider it generally very healthy to remain in touch with today's youth. Regardless... what a strange thing to say. I'll never fully know what this woman was trying to get at, but there are two possible conclusions to be drawn here.

1) Idle chit-chat should be forbidden in garages, or:
2) Idle chit-chat should be forbidden in garages for people who think it's strange that a young adult (hello) would want to read a newspaper that, you know, contains news.

It all calls to mind the Bill Hicks sketch with the waffle waitress asking him what he was reading "for". Except we don't have 'waffle waitresses' in this country, we have BP staff. Which maybe I don't want to become one of.