Yesterday I went to a nearby grocery store. We were out of eggs, bread, and small Ziploc snack bags.
So, I stopped at the deli counter, thinking it would be smart to pick up some of our favorite turkey breast. And it was even on sale…. 🙂 There was a man ahead of me. He was waiting for his meat to be sliced. A woman who I see often and has worked in this deli for many years was indeed standing by her machine carefully slicing meat. I could see her doing it.
Unfortunately this lady was having a very random and involved conversation with one of her co-workers, paying no attention to her customer. He was growing more impatient, annoyed, and irritated by the minute and began to verbally attack the store employee. She kept her cool even when he accused her of not helping him, poor service, not interacting with him and overly involved with her co-worker, critical of “Southerners,” and on and on…
I wanted to smack the man! When he made the pitch about all people from the South having poor social skills I was livid! Not born and raised in the South myself, however I have lived here for a long time and it is a home I love and appreciate. So, that accusation truly offended me…
But, it was better that I not add to the drama that was unfolding. I could see his point, on the one hand, as he wanted some personalized interaction. And given that, being shorter than me, he probably couldn’t actually SEE that the employee was preparing his order, he needed some feedback from her. She instigated his outburst by not attending to him first and having a conversation with her co-worker.
The man told the store employee that he was never coming back to this store. (Good, I thought. You are causing too much drama and the rest of us just want to go about our lives. These ladies need their jobs and friendship and I need my turkey breast so I can finish my grocery shopping. That’s life…).
The dissatisfied man when off to complain to the store manager. I stopped by to chat with the store manager after I paid for my groceries. (I know him.) Thought I would share my side of what happened so he didn’t jump all over his employees. He was appreciative. I told him my turkey was sliced and packaged perfectly. 🙂
Well, the grocery store drama gets even better…
After my short chat with the store manager I head out of the store. Just as I walk onto the sidewalk I stumbled into another older man berating yet another store employee for the pricing on some item he had gone in to purchase (and apparently did not as he was angry about the high price)! The employee was trying to diffuse this man’s anger, trying to hear him yet trying to explain how the store made such pricing decisions. Maybe she was giving him too much information, but he certainly grew increasingly angry and defensive.
This time I tucked my head and pushed my cart out to my car…Â Too much drama… And twice in one day…Â Maybe it was simply that the day was very cold, windy, and rainy and none of us were happy about having to make a trek to the grocery store…