Well . . . this happened at Target, but it was one of those SuperTargets that is at least kind of a grocery store, so I'm going to count it.
I am not particularly patient with other shoppers (or anyone, really) so normally I like to use these self-service lanes that most of the stores have now. Yesterday -- for whatever reason -- I needed a clerk. Well, stores don't really have "clerks" anymore, but I guess "cashier" is close enough . . . even though people rarely use cash anymore . . . but we could do this all day.
So I'm waiting in line behind the lady with a million coupons and a million questions and only a partial grasp of the language. I get stuck behind her a lot. But I'm trying to be patient, because . . . it's what society expects. Now, behind me comes another lady. I don't know about you, but when I have a shopping cart full of stuff, I get in front of it in the line and pull it behind me to unload my purchases on to the little moving beltway. Not everybody does this, though. Like this lady in line behind me.
Now, I like to enjoy a little bit of personal space around myself in public places. I think most people do, so I don't want to crowd the nice (if slow) lady in front of me. But the lady behind me keeps edging her cart into my space, little by little. I'm doing my best not to get annoyed (which I am not very good at) and am ignoring her inconsideration as best I can when, ultimately, she runs her cart right into the back of my legs.
So I turn around and -- surprise, surprise -- she's on the phone, not paying the least bit of attention to me. She must have noticed at least a little, though, because she acknowledged my annoyance by mumbling, "Oh, sorry," without looking up or taking any attention from her very important conversation. So I said, "Oh, not at all. My fault entirely. Heaven forbid anything interrupt your phone call."
I thought she would take this opportunity to call me a bunch of names for being a smat@ss, the way most people do, but no . . . she could not be bothered with all that.
She was on the phone, you see. Did I mention that.
You know, one day this whole bloody fakement is going to come tumbling down around our ears, and most of us aren't even going to notice.