So I’ve been madly trying to have Christmas taken care of as soon as possible so that I can relax and enjoy the holiday and not be the Scrooge I normally am. I’ve spent a bunch of money online and I’m waiting very patiently (not really) for the packages to arrive so that I have something to wrap and put under the tree that is not up yet.
Huey and Dewey got invited to a birthday party tomorrow so we needed to pick out a present. Huey had something very specific in mind and Dewey had already changed into his pajamas by the time I got home from work, so I left Dewy home with Orso and dragged Huey with me to Smith’s Marketplace.
Smith’s Marketplace is one of those mondo grocery stores that has toys and bikes and pantyhose and makeup and a garden centre and stuff.
I had a big list – some of it was groceries, I needed some beauty supplies, and I was going to try to cross some more things off my Christmas list. I sent Huey over to the toys while I did the rest of my shopping. When I met him in the toys, he was like “what took you so long?” I had a LOT of stuff in my cart.
We found a cashier that didn’t have a line and promptly started unloading. When I went to pull out my debit card, I couldn’t find my wallet in my purse. My heart sank. My blood turned to ice. I must have left it at home! I turned to the clerk pale faced an announced “I don’t have my wallet.” She froze. The bagger froze. Great, I was going to have to make them put all this stuff back. There was a LOT of stuff. Then *bing* I remembered that my wallet was in my jacket pocket and my jacket was in the car! Then I couldn’t find Huey or my keys in my purse. My heart sunk further. Just as I found my keys (a second later – you know how time seems to slow down at moments like these?) Huey appeared and I told him to run to the car and get my wallet. The clerk finished ringing me up, and I waited. We all waited. By this time there was a person behind me that had unloaded her cart and was waiting with the rest of us. Thinking it was the polite thing to do, I turned to her and explained that I had left my wallet in the car and apologized. This woman looked at me like I was the biggest idiot on the planet and huffed “Fine!” and proceeded to remove her items from the conveyer belt back into her cart. By this time there was someone behind her and it looked like her intention was to mow that person over in order to get in another check-out line. At the exact moment that the woman had re-loaded her cart, Huey arrived on his white horse with my wallet and I proceeded to pay for my items. When Huey arrived with my wallet, the clerk reassuringly told the woman, “She has it! See?” (bless her) and the woman huffed again, rolled her eyes, and proceeded to re-unload her cart. Shaking her head and grumbling the whole time. (this whole transaction took a minute)
Now I know that it’s the holidays and people are grumpy. It was the end of the day right before dinner. Most of the time I am the person in line behind the dummy that left her wallet in the car and has to send her twelve year old son who runs like the wind to the parking lot to get it. I totally understood her frustration. Just the day before, I was in Costco and the woman paying was taking forever! So much so that the clerk was apologizing (the clerk, not the woman – that’s a rant for another day), and I turned to the guy who had just arrived behind me and said that he may want to choose another line. I like to keep my judgment and eye-rolling to myself. I was pleasant to the Costco clerk and told her quietly, “It’s not your fault” when she had apologized while the woman in front of me was debating with her husband in Spanish how to pay for her groceries. She was trying to pay with a credit card and Costco only takes American Express.
Anyway. The woman behind me yesterday was rude. Totally rude. What did she think she was going to accomplish by unloading her cart and going to another line? Was it going to be faster?Sorry for apologizing to you and telling you what the problem was. Sheesh! Her negative response stuck with me for the rest of the night. Of course I felt terrible for holding this woman up for three extra minutes! Of course I felt like a complete bozo for leaving my wallet in the car. I was mortified that I was going to have to leave the store and come back with my wallet and do it all over again. I was tired too. It was the end of my day too. I hadn’t had dinner yet either. I am totally annoyed when the person in front of me is taking forever and a day to check out. It happens. I’m really sad for whatever had put that woman in such a mood that she had to take it out on me with her huffing and puffing and loading and unloading her cart and shaking her head.
I am so proud of my Huey for rescuing me in my time of need and running furiously to the car and back. He was amazing. He’s my hero. That kid can run FAST!! I was so amazed by him. The best thing was that when I was expressing to him how rude I thought the woman behind me was while I described what had happened while he was running to and from the car, he said the following to me: “Yeah, I saw what she was doing so I slowed down and waited until she had the last thing back in her cart before I showed up.” Then he turned to me with a wry grin on his face. “You DID NOT!” I said. He just smiled and shrugged. I’ll never know for sure if he was telling the truth or not, but he’s a genius if that’s really what he did because she deserved it with the way she was acting. AND that kid has a sense of humour!!! I love him even more now.
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