The other day, while at the supermarket, I ran into some incredible disregard for other people. I went to go buy some softshell tortillas for dinner. That’s all, just 1 item. So I go to the “express” aisle. You know this aisle in just about any supermarket. It’s the aisle that says “10 items or less.” Obviously the lady that was in front of me didn’t realize that this was an express aisle. Although the sign is pretty big, and I’m thinking it’s quite universal, she went into this aisle with a shopping cart full of stuff. I know what you’re thinking:
“Yoshi, why did you go into that aisle if you knew she had all that stuff?”
Yes, yes, sometimes I have that crazy thing about wanting to know why people do stupid things like this. Either that, or I was just plain stupid that day. It could be a little of both.
Regardless, there I stood with my tortilla shells, my 1 item, thinking to myself, “Holy crap, this lady has a ton of shit for the express aisle.” And I wondered if the cashier was going to say something.
I saw her look at the bunch of groceries on the conveyer belt, look up at the express aisle sign, and then looked at me with my ONE item.
So halfway through the check-in, the girl finally says to the lady, “You know this is an express aisle, you’re not supposed to have more than 15 items.”
The lady immediately looks up at the sign that’s always been there, and says, “Oh my, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize this was an express aisle. If you would have told me when I got in, I would have gone to another aisle.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that you had so much stuff!”
Let’s stop it right here. I thought about this. And I have to agree with the cashier. There’s no way she could have known that there was so much stuff in the lady’s cart from her vantage point. So what did the lady say?
“I’m sorry, I don’t usually come to this Safeway, I shop at another one. I’m just here because I had to pick up my son in the area.”
Oh you’re killing me lady. So now, not only did you have reckless disregard for other people, your son (who I finally noticed hanging out behind the cart) also did not have the brain to say, “hey mom, this is an express aisle.”
After the lady was gone, and all checked out the cashier felt so bad, and apologized for the wait. I told her no problem, and probably would have continued the conversation, but the guy behind me looked like he was in a serious rush, and I didn’t want him to wait any longer than I did for my ONE item.