John Updike's "A&P"

For last night's assigned reading, we had to read John Updike's story "A&P". I read this story in high school, so I remembered it when I heard the title. As much as I like this story, it irritates me tremendously. We discussed as a group in class how Sammy, seems very immature and a tad creepy. I see him just as an attention seeker. Throughout the story, Sammy, the employee who works the cash register, watches the bikini-clad girls walk around the store, all the while judging them and objectifying them. When his boss Lengel appears and tells the girls that they need proper attire in his store, Sammy quits, not out of pure exasperation or anger with Lengel, but as a trick to gain the approval and appreciation of the girls.

I never understood why Sammy quit. He claimed in the story that it was because Lengel "embarrassed" the girls, but if anything, the girls were setting themselves up to be scolded when they entered a store without even shoes or a t-shirt to cover them. I thought Lengel had every right to make sure his store stayed a proper establishment, which is why I don't feel that Sammy was justified in quitting, especially after the girls who he was supposedly defending took off without a second glance.