Oh, You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

It’s a phrase that Rachel utters in moments of disbelief upon witnessing acts from others that defy her idea of common sense. I borrow it here just as I borrowed it while shopping today at a local retailer. I will admit that the staff on hand was less than efficient and frustrating a number of shoppers who were just trying to drop cash and leave, but one lady irked me in multiple ways.

I don’t understand the person whose life is so busy and whose phone call is so important that they are incapable of checking out without hanging up the phone. People who walk around blue toothing (and subsequently confuse the heck out of those of us who are technologically savvy but choose not to appear to be talking to ourselves in public) are one thing. Those who cell chat while checking out bug me. I worked a little retail in college and realize the checkout person may not be the most important person in your life but can’t we practice the act of making ourselves seem halfway courteous and less self absorbed…even if we’re are not looking to befriend the one that makes our items go beep-beep?

So Shopper X is of course immersed in the most important phone conversation she’s ever had and so not interested in anything in her immediate physical environment. Not only is she checkout chatting…she abandoned her shopping cart at the threshold of the conveyor belt…right in front of us. Uh, ma’am. Are you really going to leave this here showing as much consideration for your fellow shoppers as you are for the cashier? Ma’am? Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your call. Must be the President.

Chatting while checking. Cart abandonment. Why not eat that Salted Nut Roll you just grabbed in the checkout lane before you get to the scanner. OH NO SHE DID NOT JUST DO THAT! Now she’s so hungry she just has to unsheathe that nut roll and get her peanut fix corrected while she’s still on the phone, ignoring the cashier and completely oblivious to other patrons and the laws that guide the way normal people act among fellow members of the human race.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me!