Funny how different generations approach everyday activities. I mean funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha.
As I was heading to the checkout on Thursday in Country Mart, a young guy passed me. Nothing wrong with that. I was pushing my cart with three six-packs of Diet Mountain Dew for Hick, and a jar of dill pickle spears, some Caesar Dressing and Blue Cheese Dressing, and some chicken tenders from the deli. Not a lot. Everything but the soda fit in the child seat. Still, I don't blame Young Guy for passing me on the right as I wheeled my cart/walker along the front aisle.
Young Guy had no cart. He carried two cans of energy drink, and two bags of chips, in his bare hands. I'm not snack-shaming him. Maybe he was working the evening shift, and picking up his supper and "lunch." Maybe he had a friend waiting. He looked like a fit, hard-working guy around the late 20s.
As we approached the register, two high school girls peeked around the end of the snack aisle at us. Then they RAN to the register, to be sure to get ahead of us. They each carried a couple of snacks and a drink.
Again, no shade on those gals. First come, first served. But I would never run to get ahead of someone in line, even if my knees were willing. It's a generational thing. We elderlies will wait our turn in line, much like cud-chewing heifers, ruminating on our past. We might even (GASP) motion somebody to go ahead of us. That's how we were raised.
I don't know who is raising this younger generation! I never brought up my boys to act like that. You wait your turn, and offer others your place in line if you are not in a hurry, and they have less.
Young Guy was ahead of me, right after those gals. Here's another interesting behavior.
MEN do not know how to go through a grocery line!
Young Guy put his drinks and chips on the conveyor. The cashier rang them up and bagged them, setting them at the end of the counter. Young Guy just stood there. Across from the cashier. He was paying cash, and did NOT move down toward the card-scanner. He was holding up the line. I couldn't get my stuff on the conveyor unless I rear-ended Young Guy with my cart pushing his butt. It's always MEN who do this! They can't proceed to the end to pick up their groceries. Or bag them at the end like in 10Box. They feel the need to hang out by the cashier, holding up the line.
Women don't do that! Women are gatherers. They go to the end so they can pick up their groceries or put them in bags. Men are hunters. They stand there handing over their cash. Delaying their trip to pick up the groceries. Like they are putting a foot on their conquest, waiting to be admired.
The guy behind me, of my generation, calmly waited his turn. Kudos for that. But I have a feeling he would also have blocked the line, standing there by the cashier, rather than moving down to the end before she asked for his payment.
where I shop there is no conveyer belt beyond the cashier, so I wait right there with the groceries right beside her (or him), and pay with cash or card then pick up my bag and move on. It's regular supermarkets with no room for anyone to suddenly run and get in front of the line. What does bug the heck out of me, is someone ready to pay but waiting for "wifey" who has run back to get a few things she forgot. Then she has to push past the rest of us so their goods can be processed and paid for.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a checkout operator I would call the supervisor to suspend that sale so I could process the next customer, I didn't like to keep the line waiting.
Save A Lot is like that. The problem there is when people stand in front of their cart, and the next customer can't get to the conveyor to start sitting their groceries on it. Both men and women do this. They could at least pull their empty cart through, and then stand by the cashier again.
DeleteGood for you! Or they could have paid for what was there, then let the woman gather her forgotten items, and go through the line again with them.