I love going to Costco. I really don't buy much.
I mean the stuff comes in huge quantities. But it is fun to go look at things.
Usually when I go I stock up on cleaning supplies, paper goods and beer.
I like to slowly wander the book and CD aisles.
I take a gander at the seasonal items and browse the wine section.
I also go there to buy gas since it is usually the cheapest in town, even with the membership factored in.
But there are a couple things I hate about going to Costco.
The first is the parking lot.
I don't understand these people who park it in the middle of an aisle and then just wait for someone. They must be waiting for someone to shop, pay, load the car and leave so they can get that spot 50 feet from the entrance.
No one wants to walk an extra 100 yards.
No wonder this country has an obesity problem.
We buy our frozen lasagnas six at a time and don't even want to walk too far to get them.
I tend to head toward the outer reaches of the parking lot and grab a space well away from the mini-van moms and the caddy-boat captains.
Because at the Costco by me, that is what you have.
I tend to go in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Thursdays are usually the best time for me since I work at 4 p.m.
The place is full of track-suit clad moms with "JUICY" emblazoned across their ample asses and cell phones glued to the sides of their heads.
The other demographic is the, shall we say, more mature set.
Don't get me wrong, I think old people have every right to get out and shop. I applaud the ones who push their own carts filled with 100 rolls of toilet paper and a case of Metamucil. What I don't applaud is the sense of entitlement they seem to have when it comes to right of way in the parking lot. Yeah, this isn't England. Get on your own side, bub.
Just don't push your fucking cart into me.
That is when I have a problem.
So I am in Costco this most recent Thursday. I actually didn't go to wander. I went to buy candy to restock the supply I have at work. I keep a bowl on my desk and a couple giant bags in the drawer. People wander by and have a Kit Kat and say hello.
So I grabbed my three bags of mixed candy bars and am standing in line minding my own business when this woman just barrels through with her giant cart.
She was close enough to the tips of my peep-toe-pump-shielded toes that I had to look down to make sure she didn't take off my toe-nail polish.
As she cluelessly pushed her way through on her way to the next line (instead of wakling an extra 10 feet to go around the man behind me) I said "I think the phrase you are looking for is 'Excuse me.'"
OK. Yeah. Normally I say it, but not quite as loud as I did this time.
She looked around... "Were you talking to me?"
"Yes," I replied. "You almost took off my toes with your cart. All you had to do was say 'excuse me' and I would have moved out of your way. You know, like polite people do."
"Geez," she said, shaking her head and turning her back on me to unload her cart.
OK. Was that bitchy of me? I mean, I didn't call her a name. Not any kind of name referring to any kind of female body part. Besides, I keep the community candy bowl at work stocked on my own dime. And with the good stuff. Would a real bitch give away chocolate like that?
I am just constantly amazed at how people have lost the simplest forms of common courtesy.
Now I know I probably should have held my tongue and let the moment pass. But these things happen all the time and the frustration builds in me. Then I say something.
There is such a rush-rush, have-to-be-first mentality. No one wants to wait. No one wants to give an inch and let the other guy get ahead in traffic, in the store or in life.
Slow down. Relax. Let the other guy have that inch every once in a while. It might make you feel better.
And in the end, no matter how much of a rush you are in, it doesn't really take that much time to just say "Excuse me."
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6 comments:
I've got to admit that kind of behavior (not yours) drives me nuts nuts nuts. I rarely say anything but I have silent ways of making people *work* for where they want to go if they aren't being polite.
I always say "excuse me" and sometimes people seem annoyed when you actually are asking them to move. But I love messin' with the moms with the big shopping carts. Love it. If they've taken me out earlier in my relaxing shopping trip and I see them again I may take an inordinate amount of time deciding which OJ I want, thus making them back up their mammoth carts and go another way. Tough, suck it up.
A few months back I saw a woman let her kid lay face down on top of one of those cars that are hooked to the carts. The kid was spinning around up there like a chopper rotor. Well that thing is a monster to steer and, of course, she hit a corner and the kid went sliding off the top in dramatic fashion. The kid was fine but I couldn't help but laugh. I mean WHAT was she thinking? Or maybe she made the kid ride on the hood of her car on the way home? Who knows. So most of the time I don't say anything because I figure justice eventually will be done and it can be fun to be a spectator when it happens.
I'm with ya.
The situations that kill me are the ones where a bunch of drivers are trying to get out of a confined place, like a stadium parking lot. At those massive intersections, if everybody would just let one -- one! -- person in, we'd all get where we're going so much more quickly. Instead, it becomes a battle of who can be the biggest dickhead. I hate it.
You're my hero for calling her on her shit. I've been getting bolder, too. I don't think rude people like it. ;) But God forbid that any of us go through life allowed to treat other people that way. Good for you! (I'll be by for chocolate soon.)
NO, you are not the one who's wrong. It sounds like that woman didn't even understand that she was the wrong one, and that she found you offensive. Maybe in upside-down world.
I was raised on Emily Post and now, Miss Manners is my hero. (I blogged about that somewhere ... maybe MySpace.) The lack of compassion and understanding -- heck, the lack of recognition of others just as humans and the consideration with which well all deserve to be treated -- confounds me these days.
I don't think it's a matter of justice, as vicki says, but rather a need to step back and say No, you can't go first Just because it's You. I think there are ways of being considerate that aren't misconstrued by others as them continuing to be entitled. (Does that make sense? I have a headache.)
Or maybe I'm still an idealist.
You're obviously not wrong. People are ridiculous. Usually I roll my eyes and don't say anything because most of the time I'm too lazy to care.
But once in a while ... well, my way is less moral but more effective. If someone pushes me hard or almost runs over my feet like that, sometimes I pretend it hurt.
"OW! HEY, you got me in the EYE!" tends to make rude people stop, apologize, and then continue more slowly. It also tends to make everyone around me stare accusingly at the rude person during said apology. Shame is scary-powerful.
If I did this more often I might feel guilty, but I figure as long as I don't start filing personal injury suits and milking the situation for personal gain, I'm all right.
Thanks all for stopping by and for agreeing with me that people are just rude.
Ruder every day, too.
Makes me not want to leave the house some days.
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