Ramblings about Shopping

If I am going to the store, I usually know which store and what product I’m going there for. If I’m grocery shopping, I usually have a list and I only get those things that are on the list. Even when I don’t have a particular goal in mind, I still try to remain courteous to my fellow patrons as I move around the store. I actually don’t mind shopping in general when those around me treat me the way I treat them.

I seem to be developing intolerance for those who don’t know where they are going or why they are there. And don’t get me started on those who exemplify a lack of courtesy. I just spent an hour plus walking around the Marketplace in Tustin/Irvine. I was looking for a specific product, knew of three stores in which I could find that product, I walked directly to those stores, and, if I didn’t readily see where the product was located within the store, I asked an employee of the store. While doing this walking around, I was constantly hindered by rude, inconsiderate people who didn’t know why they were there, didn’t know what they were looking for, or were as discourteous as could be in line cutting, aisle behavior, and idiocy.

Correct me if I’m wrong on this one, but it strikes me as rude that you would stop your cart cattycorner across one of the three main aisles in the store, blocking foot and cart traffic in both directions while you ponder the topology of your navel (or whatever the hell you were gazing down at your stomach for). When there is a line, it strikes me as inconsiderate to cut all the way to the front of the line to ask a question—what, the rest of us aren’t as important as you? And, once you have found an item for which you were looking and you are browsing through the aisle while comparison shopping for the device, don’t stop your fat ass in the middle of the aisle. Stand back and allow others to move around you. Don’t glance up, annoyed, when I say, “Excuse me” in a polite tone because I want to get to the product on the other side of you. And, frankly, your phone conversation with your boyfriend does not need to take place in the middle of the store at full volume and with wild gesticulations. Take it outside.

People often ask me why I dislike Christmas. The season has turned into a cut-throat, shark-infested feeding frenzy of holiday shopping. The behaviors I mention here are personified and glorified to the point where:
• You see fist-fights between mothers trying to get the latest fad toy for their child.
• You see people crushed and trampled in the rush to enter a particular store.
• You see tug of wars between otherwise rational people who grabbed the same product at the same time.
• You hear cursing and see rude gestures in every parking lot and every store.

I may not be the most church-going of people, but doesn’t the Bible teach peace, love, and hope? Where the hell does that go when people start shopping?

I implore you to be courteous even to those who aren’t courteous to you, to be considerate of the shoppers around you, and to please take a minute to think about why you are there before entering the store. You just might find that your shopping experience is smoother, more fun, less hectic, and takes much less time.

Oh, and the product for which I was shopping? Only one store had it and they only had the display model. So I could have saved myself the time and aggravation by just shopping online for it.

Live and learn.