If looks could kill, Hick would be feasting on casseroles right now.
This morning (Saturday) I stopped by Save A Lot for sour cream and ice cream. Not to be combined in the same recipe. As the checker handed me the receipt, I noticed that the bagging counter was full. It runs the length of the front window, empty boxes underneath for your self-filling pleasure, and five metal stands holding plastic bags spaced equidistantly along the top.
Being a Saturday morning (or at least before 1:00 p.m.), there were a lot of customers shopping and self-bagging. All bag stands were occupied. I didn't want a box, because I would be stashing my cold items in the soft-side cooler I keep in T-Hoe's rear, and lifting them out again to carry into the house. OH! Lucky me! I saw a lady who appeared to be done. She was talking on her phone, five or six bags already in the bottom of her cart, and what looked like a 10-lb bag of potatoes. Nobody puts a 10-lb bag of potatoes in another bag.
Since this lady was done, I pushed my cart over to use that bagging stand. Phoney didn't get out of the way, though. She kept standing there at the end of her cart. I could still reach the bags. I only needed two. One for the individual ice creams, and one for the two tubs of sour cream. It only took about 30 seconds. I could hear Phoney saying that she had just checked out, but what else did she need to go back for.
Then Phoney hung up, and turned to me as I was snatching my final bag off the rack.
IF LOOKS COULD KILL, I WOULD HAVE EXPIRED INSTANTANEOUSLY!
Phoney shot me the most lethal stink-eye I have ever observed. And that's after a 28-year career in teaching!
Then Phoney put a couple of items in a bag. I have no idea what they were. I pushed my empty cart back to the cart area, and left out the other door, rather than backtracking past Phoney to the end where T-Hoe was parked nearest.
I guess I was supposed to stand in the way of other customers entering and exiting the store, while waiting for Phoney to complete her phone call and resume bagging, even though I didn't notice anything left to bag. I thought she was done. She was NOT actively bagging when I moved in to use two bags. She was standing there talking on the phone. Not even touching her groceries.
Was I wrong? Did I deserve getting whacked by her peepers?
You did the right thing. I'd have smiled and said have a nice day. People! Some days.
ReplyDeleteAt least I did no harm. She wasn't using it at the time.
DeleteNot to pick on women, but I beat up on my gender plenty of times so...women at the store seem to own their place in line and do not give it up easily whether they are through or not. a man will pay for his groceries in around 3 seconds while women take several minutes counting out exact change and just in general frittering around...they NEVER move to the right!
ReplyDeleteI would have said, " sorry, I thought you were done on account of YOU WERE DONE!!!
Actually that would have been in my head...I would have done what you did.
Yeah, I've noticed that at Walmart. They won't get going. I can't move forward or get the rubber divider bar or get out of the way of people behind me, because I'm stuck behind a fiddler. It's worse when they leave their cart BEHIND them, so it's an extra barrier to getting to the conveyor.
DeleteShe was one of the entitled generation?
ReplyDeleteNo, in fact, she looked around 50.
DeleteRight or wrong? Hard to know. Since she appeared to be finished, I would have got into her line of vision and mouthed an "excuse me" then grabbed my two bags and stepped back again while I bagged my items. If I didn't have frozen or dairy goods, I might have waited for an empty bagging spot. Either way, an annoyed glance from her would have been better than a death glare.
ReplyDeleteA good solution in theory, but to get in her line of vision, I would have needed to run outside the store and stand by the window, since she was looking out toward the parking lot. Also, the way things go around here, I could be patiently waiting, only to have someone else dart in when Phoney left.
DeleteI liked it a lot better that time I was bagging, and a guy walked up and tried to hand me a wad of money! He was distracted, and mistook me for his mom at the next bagging stand.