Showdown at Wal-Mart

A few months ago, my brother saw a disabled man being assaulted in the parking lot of a local Mickey D's. My brother got out, pulled the assailant off his intended victim and decked him. Once the cops got there (who immediately let John go) they find this assailant has an outstanding arrest warrant for attempted murder. (Go John!) Anyway, my story is not quite as dramatic.

I am standing in the checkout line at Walmart, minding my own business. The lady in front of me is arguing about the price of her produce. Ok, fine. I'm not trying to get into it, even though her behavior was rather rude and obnoxious, especially to the cashier, who was doing her best to be nice. After several arguments over several different pieces of produce, the lady, who was already being extremely rude (my preschooler is more polite) to the cashier -- nary a 'please' nor 'thank you' proceeded from her lips, not even once -- this lady turned to me and another lady behind me and says very snottily, "Watch your produce, girls." Ok, lady. Now you done did it. I was going to stay out of it, but since you got me involved...I bit my tongue for a few seconds while thinking about whether to respond. And decided to respond. I said, "Lady, you should be grateful that you even have enough money to pay for what's in your cart." And she says, "Well, she's ringing it up XYZ and it's really ABC per pound." I said, "It's 60 cents' difference. Get over it."



She finally asked to speak to the manager, while Jesus and I were ringing up our stuff (which, btw, was rung up correctly). I went on about my business and was venting to Jesus on the way out. We're loading our stuff into our trunk, and Guess Who comes stomping over to where we are and says to me, "I want to know just who you think you are to say something like that to me." I said, "You have more money than most people in the rest of the world and there is no need to be rude to anyone the way you were rude to that cashier."


"Oh, and do you know that for a fact? My husband and I live on a very fixed income."


"Well, if you have a house, and you have a car that you can get in and drive to Wal-mart, you have more than most of the rest of the world. And there was no need to say what you said to me in the checkout line."


"I thought I was doing you a favor."

"You were snide and you did not need to be."

[stomps off mumbling under breath]

Maybe I could have been a little nicer to this lady, but I was so furious by the way she was treating the cashier that it was hard to keep an even tone of voice. Maybe I should've just said "You can complain, but there's no need to involve me, and there's no need to be rude." Or maybe, "I hope you don't go to church, because you're giving the rest of us a bad name." (probably not that one.) But I couldn't just stand by while she treated this poor woman like dirt. Or maybe she thought I was being disrespectful to my elders. Oh well. Maybe, living inside me, there's an Erin Brockovich, and I have to let her show every once in a while.