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Home Site-ings: alien arts
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31.8.01
I was the second person in the 15-item-or-less express line at Whole Foods getting my lunch this afternoon. Behind me was a woman with two or three Power- or Luna- or some sort of make-me-feel-better-about-eating-crap-bars. I’ll refer to her as Power-bar woman. I’d estimate her to be in her mid-forties, not that age is relevant, but hey – it could be. Anyhow, she seemed irritated, she was rolling her eyes and mumbling under her breath. She was especially so after the checker had to call in a price check for the folks in front of me. I really wasn’t paying too much attention to her, though, as I was in a really good mood and wanted to stay that way. Well... in the few seconds that passed while we were waiting, an elderly woman came into line behind Power-bar woman. I noticed her because I saw she was pushing a store shopping cart and using one of those wheeled walking carts at the same time, making me to think, "wow -- I hope I'm that agile when I'm that age." She also made me think of my Mom, who is nearing 70 and has had knee replacement surgery. She has a hard time walking, especially since she needs her other knee replaced but refuses to have it done, but I digress… The elderly women began to place her items on the check-out belt, and said to Power-bar woman, “Excuse me, I just need to get this off my hands.” Heavily drenched in sarcasm, “Why?!” was Power-bar woman’s response, which caught my attention. I turned to look their way, the elderly woman continued to put her things on the belt. She replied, “I’m having a hard time walking, I’m eighty-one years old and I have a hard time getting around anymore.” To which Power-bar woman snidely responded with a comment along the lines of “oh, but you can be in a hurry.” I was still looking her way and saw this awful look of pure meanness on her face when she said it, which instantly pissed me off and filled my heart with immense sadness. The checker began ringing up my stuff, and after I checked out I went to sit at a table to eat my lunch. The table was not too far from the check-out, and I heard the checker ask Power-bar woman if the stuff on the belt was hers. Now… instead of saying something like “No, it’s not,” and simply handing over the Power-bars to be rung up, she says to the checker “No, it’s this woman’s. She was in too much of a hurry to wait.” Of course, she said loud enough so anyone near overheard, which, of course, only reinforced the fact that Power-bar woman is an asshole. I never did say anything to either of them. I don’t regret that, as it wasn’t necessarily my battle to fight and the elderly lady didn’t seem to be taking much offense. But that’s just what killed me when this whole thing happened – the thought that the elderly lady didn’t take offense made me think she is accustomed to incidents and/or people like that. Either that or she was frightened to for fear of Power-bar woman’s retaliation, but I didn’t get that sense. Hopefully, she just thought Power-bar woman was an asshole and decided not to stoop to her level or dignify her asinine behaviour with response. I truly hope this is the case. Especially because I still want so badly to believe that Power-bar woman is the exception to the rule. I did smile at the elderly lady when she came by my table, hoping to convey an “I totally agree – Power-bar woman was an asshole, but not all of us are like that” message. I hope she saw that in my eyes.
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