For one so ample in the rumpus, Val sure gets a lot of overlooking. It's like I'm one of those house-owners in Beetlejuice. I can be standing RIGHT THERE, and people totally ignore me. Perhaps I need to make a suit of work-zone-yellow-green, and wear a beanie with spinner on my noggin.
Tuesday at 4:10 p.m., I was minding my manners in line at the Liquor Store. The customer ahead of me had just left. As I took a step towards the counter, a young girl strode through the door. She was about 10 years old, holding a styrofoam cup. Girlie stepped up beside me, and the 20-something clerk looked right past me, and asked how she could help Girlie! I know she noticed her just come in. She was moving, and I had been standing there.
Here's the thing. No good can come of making a child feel special in a liquor store!
"My mom just bought a Diet Mountain Dew at the drive-thru, and the guy gave her a regular Mountain Dew."
"Okay. Give me the cup. I'll pour it out and put Diet in it."
Clerk then proceeded to leave the counter, go to the back room where the drive-thru soda fountain is located, and leave us standing there side by side. She was gone quite a while. The guy at the drive-thru turned to face us, leaning his skinny rumpus insouciantly against the window. I have no idea what THAT was about. The drive-thru line was so long that it was blocking one entrance onto the parking lot. He made no move to come wait on the counter people. Which now numbered five.
Clerk came back and gave Girlie the soda. It was not MY mistake. I am a paying customer same as Girlie's mother. I am unaware of any unwritten societal rule that says you get cuts if you leave the store and find out your order was messed up.
I will stop short of throwing elbows like a rebounding Dennis Rodman at a young girl not-in-line at the Liquor Store. But that doesn't mean I think her behavior was justified.
Since moving back to my hometown, we have had 3 roundabouts put in. Two in town and 1 just outside of town. There is also a new one East of town, about 8 miles out that is a busy intersection. They may have lied about the danger, but I think it is cheaper to put in a roundabout and is faster than overpasses etc. to build and easier to maintain. We drove through many, many roundabouts when we were in Ireland and England and wondered why they had so many and, at that time, I don't think there were many, if any, in the US. Now, they are everywhere. We have seen accidents at the roundabout, because people have just driven straight through and tore up the center of it and usually damaged their vehicle, as well. Also, older drivers do not always understand how they work. I'm an older driver and I'm fine with a couple of lanes but the ones we saw in England had multiple lanes and exits and I am so glad I was not driving. Being on the other side of the road, with the driver on the right side of a stick shift vehicle and roundabouts, were way more than I could have dealt with. I can drive stick, but I need to have it on the right side. Not sure my brain could calculate the shift difference, much less everything else. I hope the roundabout transition goes quickly and all goes well for you. No fun to have summers of construction. In MN, we have years of construction starting on a major freeway. I hope we have no need to travel in that area before it's done. I think it's suppose to take 3 years to complete and this is a freeway that is famous for being under construction. We also have major construction on the North side of the metro, as well. My husband has to negotiate different routes because the closed exits and entrances are constantly changing without any forewarning. 'Tis not Summer, but Construction Season here. Drive safe. Ranee (MN)
ReplyDeleteThe intersection where they plan this newest roundabout is a simple 4-way traffic light. There is a lot of traffic passing through there from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. I can't see that a roundabout will speed it up. It might work during the other hours of the day, but that is not prime get-off-work and school time.
DeleteI-35 at Norman, Oklahoma always seemed to be under construction, and also interstate 40, coming in from the east. Every time we went to visit The Pony in college, there were detours somewhere for the whole 4 years.
how very rude
ReplyDeleteRude of the clerk! A child will do what they are allowed to get away with, unless a village raises them right!
DeleteI'm not sure what to say about this, possibly the girl's mother was still at the front of the leaving line and holding up traffic flow so needed to be served quickly? Or your server knew it would be quicker to just get that exchange done instead of calling to the drive thru person to come and do it? Or.....(*~*)
ReplyDeleteIf the mother was still in the line, she could have addressed the soda issue for herself through the window. First come, first served! That's how it should be. Believe me, nobody in Backroads cares if they're holding up a line. What kind of mom would send her young child unaccompanied into a liquor store these days???
DeleteAs for the Clerk, she was doing it anyway, not calling for the drive-thru guy. The only two customers in the store at that time were ME, who had just gotten my so-called turn after waiting, and then the little girl who walked in after me.