Supermarket vignette

An elderly man had apparently bumped his elaborate wheeled walker -- the kind with a seat for resting as well as a basket for carrying things-- into a fifty-ish woman who had inconsiderately paused her grocery cart mid-aisle and was unmindfully blocking a main thoroughfare in the Associated Food Store on Manhattan's East 14th Street.

Middle-aged know-it-all, in a condescending manner, says:
You don’t have to bump me like that.

Elderly grouch barks back:
I’ll do whatever I please.

Middle-aged know-it-all, with a little more urgency now, intent on getting her message across:
All you have to do is say excuse me.

Elderly grouch cranks up the volume as well as the nastiness of his tone:
and all YOU have to do is move your ass.

Well, that got her. She was done. He had trumped her with the coarseness of his response. Not wanting to appear totally defeated, however, she continued to mutter to herself as she moved her cart out of the way and headed down the aisle, away from him. The store was crowded, but nobody paid any attention to either of them. It was just another day at the Associated.



© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
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