Two lessons at the grocery store today

6 years ago

One: While grocery shopping to day I was approached by the director of the concert choir I used to sing with. I hadn't seen him in at least 10 years, and I instinctively hugged him. No harm done, I'm sure, but it occurred to me later that when we're told to stop shaking hands, etc., it would be smart for me to rein in my hugging instincts.

Two: I was almost finished unloading my grocery items from my cart at the register when the woman on line behind me said, "I can help you with that," and started putting my items on the conveyor belt. I'm not young, but I'm pretty certain I didn't look like I needed help. In all my years of grocery shopping, no one has ever done this. I said, "That's okay, I've got it," but she just kept going. Fortunately, there wasn't much left.

It didn't seem like that big of a deal because everything we pick up at the grocery store has been touched by someone else, even if it's only stock clerks, and in this store--a discount grocery--people are always picking up items and reading the labels to see if there's an expiration date, or to look at the ingredients, or whatever. But then as I put my credit card into the machine she she stood unnecessarily close to me and coughed heavily into her hands. It wasn't a dry cough.

I felt like she was a freakin' Typhoid Mary. I wonder if she was playing some sort of sadistic game.

I'll be prepared next time if something like this ever happens again, but I bet it won't. At least I hope not.

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lucillle

6 years ago

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Comments (7)

aok27502
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
This is a really good moment in time, for people to keep their hands to themselves. I once received the stink eye from a mother of reasonably small child, after he started touching the things in my grocery cart. I simply said "those are my things, please don't touch them." She glared at me, but my thought was, I don't have any clue where that child's hands have been. I don't want them all over my groceries. And I don't remember that the child was even sick, not like the lady you encountered!
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
6 years ago
Tough in a grocery (discount or not); I don't worry about canned goods - my concern is in the produce department. I watch, the clerks use gloves, but lots of folks pick up and put back many items (apples, plums, etc.) Could I use all this to start a special diet? I am sure that no one has harmed the inside of my whiskey bottle!
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petalique
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Wear a simple white diaper like surgical style mask onto which you’ve written

“VERY SICK! STAY FAR BACK!” In scarlet Sharpie. You can buy little blinking LED lights and pin them on you and your cart.

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Kathsgrdn
6 years ago
I walked into a pain clinic a week or so ago. Most of the people were hacking and coughing. A lot of them not even trying to cover their mouths. I waited for about 45 minutes in there. People are just gross and don't care about any one else.
User
6 years ago
Wow, Petalique, you gave me exactly what I was looking for - a good laugh. In fact I almost fell off the chair. We need more people like you to rescue us from this world of fear and morbid dread of EVERY FREAKING THING.
petalique
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Thanks, ritaweeda, my comment was tongue in cheek overdrive, but while generally not a germ-a-phobe, I truly dislike being sick with a cold or flu. As a nice favor to friends, I used to babysit their young kiddies for free when they had to go for a daylong class, or the daycare was closed. Too often. I sometimes had four colds a season.

I no longer spend time with kids, but the advantage is, I don’t tend to catch colds, except last year, when shopping, a woman with whom I was speaking (no contact and I was 3-4 feet away) turned her head to cough, the informed me she’d been battling a bad cold. Gee, thanks. After about 2 to three days My throat began to itch and feel sore, the next day fatigue, sore throat, rhinitis. Grrr. And, definitely yes yes, it was that woman’s cold. I was sick for three weeks. And I had a lot of work to do. Bah!

I’m afraid I would be a grumpy toad if I had been in that sneezy cough waiting room. “Look here, you imbeciles!”

Ever go into the lav of one of those big store and see the many messy toilets? Flushing and tidying up seems beyond some users. :-/ Not everyone is going to score over 90 on an IQ test, or be able to follow the directions for making a peanut butter sandwich. I use Alcohol-based hand cleaner, avoid public knobs and handles, and avoid the cold air blow-dryer at Lowe’s, MacDonald’s and some other public places. They just push atomized cold bathroom air onto one’s clean hands. Blech.

Best, Grumpy

Two lessons at the grocery store today

lucillle

Comments (7)

aok27502

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

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