I shop for groceries 4-5 times a week. Seems like a lot of trips to many, but as the head shopper and chef in the Murphy house, I am always looking for the best deals and I want to ensure we have the freshest food on our table.
Also, like many others these days, I work from home and this is one of the few moments I get to leave the house. Taking the kids to and from school, gym and grocery store. That’s it. Saving money on gas, but it occasionally causes cabin fever.
I don’t wear headphones or talk to people while shopping, and those who do that, really drive me nuts. You have to be aware of your surroundings, even at the grocery store, and you also need to be self-aware. I don’t want to hear you yelling, while on FaceTime, about how your ex-husband isn’t doing this or that for the kids. I often go to the store to get away from life, not to be annoyed by yours.
I see these people dialing as they grab their cart and walk into the store. I keep my shopping list in the notes section of my phone, so phone calls prevent me from doing what I’m there to do. I’ll buy laundry detergent when it’s on sale, but I won’t air out my laundry at the store.
Some are reading this and thinking “mind your own business!” It’s hard to do that when I can still hear the conversation from the next aisle over. If you are standing in my way and all I need is bread, I’d rather not interrupt you. I’m also trying to be respectful and stay a safe distance from you.
Then again, maybe I listen because I’m always looking for content to share? Maybe these people just make it impossible to ignore? Know this, even if people can only hear one side of your conversation, they are listing. Even though you are in your own little world while shopping, you are not in a vacuum
So anyway, while checking out at the grocery store the other day….
Woman, mid 50s with a dog, walks up to the bag girl and starts talking AT her. Almost yelling, but more like sternly speaking. The kind of conversation that I have with my kids when I’m disappointed with them. Not shouting, but with an elevated tone.
Hang on. Seriously. Why are we bringing non-service dogs into the store? Because we can’t leave them in the car? Why don’t we just leave them at home? Am I about to upset the “my dogs are like my children people”? (Hey-Your dog isn’t a kid. Stop it. Don’t come at me bro).
Meanwhile the checkout guy can’t ring up my groceries because he is listening to what is going on with the young girl and this upset woman. I can’t hear anything due to the Covid-19 Plexiglas wall. I can see her body language and that’s telling me she’s not happy, but the words are muffled to me.
The woman leaves and you can see the amazement on both the faces of the checkout guy and the bag girl. They make wide-open eye contact as if they just saw or experienced something crazy together. They just had a moment.
I felt like I was a part of this episode. Like a skit just happened in front of me and somehow I was on the hook for some type of one-liner or comment to bring levity to an odd situation.
Since the upset woman and bag girl dialogue prevented me from leaving sooner, I had to ask what happened. They owed it to me. I was an innocent bystander to this event and I deserve an explanation as to why my produce is still not bagged.
The bag girl said “she just yelled at me for being rude towards her the last time she was in here. I don’t know her. Not sure what she’s mad about. I don’t think I’ve ever met that women before. I mean, she had a dog. I just started here last week and I only work 2 afternoons a week! Today’s my 3rd shift!”
A grown woman, while carrying her small dog through the grocery store at 5pm in the afternoon, decided to stop to tell a 16-17-year-old kid that she was rude the last time she was in the store. It’s her 3rd shift.
Who is the rude person? Entitled much?
I then offered to run out into the parking lot and stick my hand in the dog’s mouth in order to get some insurance money and payback for the young girl. They both lit up! The checker started to run my groceries through faster and the young girl put them in my cart at record speed.
There, I added levity to the weird situation. I played my part in this awkward grocery store moment. As I walked out, I did look for the woman and the dog, but could not locate them in the parking lot. Not to stick my hand in the dog’s mouth, but to get a better look at the plaintiff and her dog. I assume she felt victorious for running down a young girl as she drove off in her BMW or Lexus.
Do you have to always be “right”? Do you need the last word? Think about all the people who have meant something to you in life and how they hurt or wronged you in some way and you never responded or retaliated. You just kept moving forward or forgave them or completely forgot about it. These are people who mean/meant something to you.
You’re going to teach a complete stranger a lesson by unloading some calculated rant while they are trying to toss boxes of mac-n-cheese into a plastic bag? She’s a kid. Even if the bag girl was rude to that woman during one of her first two shifts at the grocery store, I don’t believe she’s presently in the right environment for lesson learning. It’s her 3rd shift and in a few more, she will forget about you. Trust me. I have a teenage daughter.
#Tryharder to just let things be sometimes. The world is a powder keg of emotions right now and we all need to give each other grace. I’ve forgiven everyone who has ever wronged me and I often pray for those who have cut me the deepest. You have to or the pain consumes and changes you. Unlike the rude woman with a dog, I am not trying to brow beat anyone. I share these observations and stories for entertainment value, but maybe there’s a takeaway or two along the way.