My friend who is ill has a broken leg and a broken arm and can't drive so I've been her chauffeur. Kroger offers electric go carts so we headed there to replenish her pantry and larder.
She got herself situated and off we went, she did the steering and me following with my own cart. My job was to get the groceries from the high and low shelves - grocery stores aren't made for people who shop sitting down.
They also aren't made for people who aren't ambulatory, but for some reason they are made for people who can't see. I don't see how anyone can ignore a go-cart but my friend (who is not the shy, mousy type) suddenly became invisible. We chanted "excuse me" , "please move", "Beg pardon" , "I'm sorry", "No, you need to move your cart too" (Texans are very polite) while traversing aisles 1-6.
By aisle 7 we cut to the chase "move".
By aisle 8 I wondered if Kroger carried bazoka horns - the kind the clowns use in the circus - we could have used one.
By aisle 9 friend contemplated rapping people on the ankles with her cane.
The kicker came as we left. Car was in the handicapped section. Standing there, blocking the way to the car and the door were 2 woman with their carts gossiping. One of them had a toddler which both of them were ignoring. We approached and it was pretty obvious we needed access to the car they were blocking. They ignored us.
We tried the loud cough approach. Didn't work.
"Excuse me" Didn't work either".
Finally resorted to "You have to move, you are blocking our car".
They moved - all of 2 feet and blocked the trunk. Toddler continued to run up and down the rectangle created by our car, an adjoining car, us and the gossip monglers. My friend couldn't maneuver the cart down the ramp for fear of running over him. I couldn't bring the groceries down. The ladies kept talking, the kid kept rambling about and we kept staring at them.
Finally we snapped out "Get your kid and move. We need to get into the car you are blocking."
They looked mildly put out that we dare disturb them and went on into the parking lot. Where they continued to stand. And talk. And ignore the child. I fully expected to the see story on the evening news "Child run over in grocery parking lot, film at 11".
4 comments:
I see that things are the same everywhere, sigh. . .
What is it about the grocery store that turns people into absolute morons? It seems that rudeness abounds at the grocery store, even when there is only a handful of other shoppers!
Nice blog, by the way!
Hey, I'm a New Yorker, so I would have gone from "move" straight into running into someone. I suspect rudeness abounds at a grocery store because no one really wants to be shopping for food again -- it's maintenance, and it's not exactly a thrill a minute.
Yuk. What were those people THINKing? Rude, as well as dangerous, to allow a toddler to run around in a parking lot.
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