Monday, September 15, 2008

Less Than Pleasant

Okay, I admit it...I have been a little on edge today and I probably could have been a bit more pleasant at the store this afternoon, but doggonit, give me a break, people!!

I just don't understand why a person has to park their grocery cart and walk somewhere else to retrieve an item and then rather than hurry back to their basket to move it out of the way, will just stand and continue to block the progress of anyone else waiting to get to a cart-blocked item.

THEN, when the person returns to the cart with others waiting to get to those blocked items, does person move the cart? NO! Person peruses over items in the basket and checks and double checks. Okay, okay, I'm still calm, she probably has a lot on her mind and it is just a slip - not an everyday rudeness. We all have those moments.

So I round the corner to get down another aisle blocked by woman on phone and friend with cart. Phone lady gets off the phone, I say very politely, "excuse us" (us, because I have family with me), and cart friend sees me, but says nothing to phone lady. "Excuuusse Usss," I say a little more sweetly but a touch louder. Cart friend still just looks at me while phone lady continues conversation with her. "Yeah, HEY, Hello! Excuse US!" Well, now they both stop and look at me, then move and I see them continue to look at me as we go down the aisle. Yes, I could have and should have continued to be more polite, but apparently it was getting me nowhere...and now I'm the rude lady in the store according to these two.

Final straw: I had a dozen eggs, some of which mysteriously broke in my basket (two children in and around basket - yeah, it's a mystery). So I picked up another dozen eggs. Now, how many times have you picked up eggs in the refrigeration aisle to find them busted open? Unpleasant, isn't it? So, I though I would be polite and take the eggs to the front so they could determine what to do with them from there - instead of leaving them to be found later. The cashier, who not only didn't speak very clear English, also didn't understand it that well, either, kept trying to scan the broken eggs so he could "exchange" them for me. "No, I haven't purchased those eggs and I don't want to, I just didn't want to leave broken eggs in the back." Again, he wanted to scan the eggs for me. "NO, I don't want THOSE eggs, I haven't purchased THOSE eggs, I want THESE eggs, I just didn't want to leave broken eggs for someone else to find." This went on for a while before he finally told me they would just throw them away. Pity, there were some good eggs left in the carton. But after all of that, who am I to argue with store policy?

So, yeah, I could've been way more pleasant today. Way more. Sorry 'bout that.

2 comments:

Holly (me.) said...

*sigh* Tomorrow is a fresh new day, right? I can report that an aisle blocker actually noticed me trying to unobtrusively peruse items she was blocking at MegaMart today--- and she MOVED!!! Keep hoping, my friend.

Stacee said...

lol - now I understand your post on my blog. Once upon a time I enjoyed grocery shopping ... clearly that was a long time ago ;)