Expressly In The Way

Before work, I chose to swing by my local grocery store and pick up a few items for lunch. I opted for the ten-items-or-less lane only to find a woman had chosen it with her full basket in tow. It was early in the morning, and there were only two lanes open, so I resigned myself to wait for her to complete checkout.

As soon as she’d finished, I waited for her to move her full buggy out of the way, but she stood there at the card reader, reviewing her receipt. The cashier scanned my three items, bagged them for me, and gave me my total. Still, the woman had not moved.

I tilted the machine to tap my card with a very loud, “Excuse me,” and got my receipt. All in all, this took around two minutes. Realizing she was still involved in staring at her receipt, I calmly said, “Excuse me… Excuse me!” When she still refused to move, I yelled, “MOVE!” from right behind her.

Finally, she jumped, whipping her head around to give me a sour look. I glared right back at her, waiting for her to get out of the way. She scurried off toward the entrance only to stop in the middle of the sliding doors, staring at her stupid receipt again.

Somebody was coming in, and I was exiting, and neither of us could get around her. Once again, I raised my voice and yelled, “Oh my God, other people exist!” and shoved past her and her buggy. The guy coming in opted to make the same move, pushing around the woman rudely.

I heard her complain, “Ugh, people.” Right, lady, because we were the problem there.