I get irritated at a lot of things I should simply let go. Today’s irritations included a car turning right in front of me without indicating, being tail-gated for staying with the speed limit in a 20 MPH zone and, most annoyingly of all, seeing customers being rude to supermarket staff. I should, I know, just look the other way and avoid getting myself stressed, but I don’t. This afternoon in our local Sainsbury’s I witnessed two of my least favourite behaviours.
First, in the self-serve section, a woman got very angry when the red light above started flashing and the magic words along the lines of “unexpected item in bagging area” were announced. A young staff member walked towards her and she acted as though it was his fault. “Why did this happen? I didn’t do anything,” she complained in a very angry voice. Being professional, he simply did something with a card, pressed a button and off she went without so much as a thank you. “Bite your tongue,” I willed myself. Then, on the first staffed till next to me, my absolute least favourite customer appeared. You must have met her (it’s not always a her, but today it was). The person who carries on a mobile conversation while being served and continues well beyond that.
And so it came to pass as I was paying for a handful items I had missed on last week’s on-line shop that she appeared and her conversation was LOUD. “Why don’t you just put that phone away, put your shopping on the belt, pack it, pay and bugger off,” I thought, but I said nothing. At first. But as I packed my few items, I snapped. Not in a fit of uncontrolled rage, you will understand, but I could keep quiet no longer. I paid, picked up my bag and walked to the till, not minding my business. “What you are doing is SO rude. You should show the staff some respect.” And I walked away, calm, composed and pleased with myself.
Not that I should have been pleased with myself because it was none of my business but there is just no need for it. I have a lot of time for supermarket workers who do a job that’s far harder than many people seem to realise and get grief from some punters just for doing their jobs. And like I said before, it’s surely a matter of respect, isn’t it? That’s a human being on that till, not an inanimate object. If you want one of them, use a self-service till and don’t be rude to a staff member who happens to work there, just because you have have done something wrong.
I know this is triflingly trivial stuff and there are far more important things to get wound up about, but don’t worry, I get wound up about them, too.
And don’t think that I picked out a rude woman just because she was a rude woman. I call out rude men, men, too, in the certain knowledge that if they wanted to they could punch my lights out.
Some people are just rude, aren’t they, and they’re almost certainly rude to all manner of other people who they come across in their lives. I’d love to say I call them out on their supermarket bad manners in the hope that they will mend their ways in everything they do, but I don’t. I have a momentary flash of being pissed off by rude people and I think, rightly or wrongly, I need to call them out.
Next time, I’ll try to turn the other cheek because I am sure one day I shall pick on an escaped murderer in the queue at Tesco who will then axe me to death. But if I don’t see an axe hidden in someone’s person, I’ll probably do what I did today.
