I went out for a measly twenty minutes. This is what ensued.
Hub and I were just about ready to venture out north to our old neighborhood pharmacy where our prescriptions still remain because of the most helpful pharmacy girls and pharmacist whose advice is invaluable. Anyhoo, I digress. When I was finally ready, hubby wasn’t having a good day physically, so I told him I’ll go north and pick up his pills and do whatever else was on the list. He insisted we’ll go together tomorrow. But in the meantime, I was dressed and masked and ready to go so I thought I’d take the opportunity to run out myself to the fancy supermarket a few blocks away, to pick up some nice steaks I’d noticed on sale when we were there only three days prior, but walked by them because we don’t typically eat a lot of meat. But we were having company on the weekend. And it was a special occasion since our good friends were coming for dinner – the friends we usually always got together with once a month pre-Covid, and now haven’t seen for 8 months.
So, I crossed that stopover off my list of stops for the next day and drove to the fancy supermarket. I didn’t take a shopping cart on the way in, because of course, I only went in for one thing – the steaks. The rest of my grocery shopping would be done the next day at the big grocery chain store.
I headed straight for the meat department and was grateful to find the lovely steaks still on sale. Then I remembered hubby asked for some nectarines, which were located at the complete opposite end to the meat department. This of course meant I was to pass many other aisles on my way to the nectarines. Did I mention I had no cart?
I doubled back when I realized I’d passed, first, a beautiful shrimp ring also on sale and a package of turkey bacon. I picked up one of each and piled them onto the four-pack of steaks.
As I was scrolling over a mental list in my head thinking about my menu for my gathering, I was nearing the butternut squash, just the soup I had in mind to make for an appetizer. So I picked up two boxes of already peeled and cut cubes (yes, I cheat, I hate dealing with whole butternut squash) and placed them on top of the shrimp ring. And while I was at it, right in front of me were some beautiful vine tomatoes. I managed to be able to pick up a cluster of four.
Last, and certainly not least, I made it to the nectarines. By this time, my two forearms were balancing my Jenga pile of food. My right hand cupped, shielding the pile from falling, which left my left hand free to grab a plastic bag, then transfer it to my right hand to hold while I leaned over to pick out some nectarines and placed them in the bag.
I put in however many my two fingers grasping the bag could hold and just as my mission was complete, I turned to leave and my purse hanging over my shoulder, knocked over one lone nectarine onto the floor. I stood there looking at it on the ground for a moment, all the while calculating how I could pick it up and restack my tower of food again. A woman standing barely three feet away from me had been watching me, as though she was waiting for something to fall. I stood there and sighed after the fallen nectarine, locked eyes with the woman looking at me as though I was mentally signaling her to offer a hand, but she made zero effort to offer to pick it up. I glanced again at the fruit on the floor then once more at the woman, shook my head at her and walked away.
The woman called to me as though she was the store warden, “Aren’t you going to pick that up?” .
I turned to her, now two aisles past her and shouted, “I can’t believe you’re such an uncourteous bitch!”
I was stunned. I’m the kind of gal who puts myself in other’s shoes. I could not have stood and watched a woman with her arms overflowing holding a stack of groceries, right beside me dropping a fruit and me not automatically reaching down to grab it for someone as a human kindness. You know, kind of like someone holding a door open for the person immediately behind them?
After checkout, I spotted the lottery booth had no lineup and thought it was a good opportunity to buy a ticket for the big pot. I approached the plexi-glassed desk and stood for about a minute to see how long it would take for the girl to lift her head from her cell phone and acknowledge the presence of a customer. But she didn’t. So I left.
I was pulling out of the small plaza up the last row of a dozen, closest to the exit. I braked to check for cars coming in and out before making my right turn onto the exit, then was about to proceed with my turn when a car booted up the drive , didn’t stop or care that I’d not yet completed my turn yet, but she proceeded to attempt to complete her turn into my lane with nowhere for her to fit her car and blocking me from being able to complete my turn because clearly, there was nowhere for her to go until I turned. That was it for me.
I opened my window and screamed out to the woman and let her know how #$#$@#@ ignorant she was, and told her to back up and let me get out before she could turn in. I also added there were a dozen other rows she could have turned into but had to try and fit in the lane by cutting someone off. I’m tired of these lawless people on the roads and parking lots any and everytime I go somewhere in the car. There are scary drivers on our roads, and I don’t know how many of them ever got their license.
I was going to run a return parcel over to the post office but I’d had enough for one day. One half hour.
I reminded myself just how comfortable I am living in my bubble at home. Maybe too much.
How was your day?
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