"Why I Dislike Shopping on Saturday" or "How To Spot a Rude Person at 20 Paces"

While it's fresh in my mind from our shopping excursion today, the children are happily engrossed in a game w/CKB and my stomach is nice and full after grilling hamburgers and hot dogs tonight, I'd like to share with you why I'd rather stick toothpicks under my fingernails than go into a store on the weekend, namely Saturday.

Let's see. Today started as many Saturdays do in our household, sleepy parents, early rising children and a few semi-decent cartoons to choose from. As the children enjoyed a couple of episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I cooked up some oatmeal (which they all wolfed down - strange children - I can't stand the stuff) and poured a few glasses of milk. As on most Saturdays, CKB and I talked about what we wanted to do that day. After taking care of a few things around the house and a few hours sailing by, we decided to just "get out of the house" for awhile. Where to? Well, it was lunchtime so we headed off to pick up some lunch and maybe stop in the pet store to look around for a bit. Mistake #1.

Well, Sonic was crowded, but we got our order pretty quickly and after finishing up a chili cheese coney and tots, I drove on over to Petco. Mind you, just getting across the shopping center parking lot is taking your life in your hands, but we made it and parked the car. Mistake #2 was thinking we'd actually get to walk around together looking at the animals in the store. We went inside, CKB had the cart w/Mr. A and Miss E walking alongside. Mr. E and Miss A were with me. After ooing and aaahing about how cute the ferrets, gerbils, bunnies, etc. were for about 5 seconds before getting looks from other people that seemed to say "you're taking too long, we need to look", we headed back to the fish and attempted to take a look. As usually happens though, if it's semi-crowded and you're pushing a cart you might as well just forget it. So, CKB and Mr. A cruised some of the other aisles while I walked along w/the older 3 children. Exciting event of the day there was to see some new guppies being born! Neat!

We circled around to see where CKB and Mr. A had walked to and saw some turtles - it appeared less crowded over by the fish so we decided to head back over so Mr. A could get a glimpse of the "fishies"....Mistake #3 was thinking there really weren't a bunch of folks over there that were shorter than the not very tall aisle dividers....we got back over to fishland only to see that there was a shorter lady and her child right at the entrance which we hadn't seen over the top of the aisle, and they weren't budging, so we decided to go look at the birds instead.

Now, why on earth can't other people be considerate when we're looking at things and not get right up next to us or push past or walk right in front of us...?????? I don't know. They're rude? And it's not just children! Are we the only people who still value a little personal space? I couldn't tell you the number of times someone has come right up beside me and the children and just stood there getting closer and closer - it's like being tailgated in a store - I guess they figure the closer they get, the more likely I'll move away. They're right, I have to confess. I have no interest in being so close to a stranger that I can feel their breath on my neck - yes, it's happened - ugh. Almost as bad are the folks who look at you like you're insane for bringing your children to the store in the first place, even if they are behaving very nicely....or the ones who try to zip past you and/or "huff" loudly because you stopped for a moment to, dare I say it, get something off the shelf and put it into your basket! But I digress...I think I was reliving some Wal-mart moments.....

Well, after looking at the parakeets and discussing how cute they are, what they were doing, etc. with the children, I looked up to see what CKB was looking at. He was standing between the bird cage and the endcap of the aisle next to it. There might have been a foot between him and the endcap display where he was standing in the aisle. Yep, you guessed it - a child maybe 9/10 years old just barged between CKB and the endcap without the slightest acknowledgment or "excuse me" - nothing - just squeezed by....his mother was right behind him and said nothing - she was too busy looking around on her own I guess.

It was about then that I told the children it was time to go. We walked out of the store and I don't plan to return except maybe on a weekday morning.....maybe. In my insanity, we went into another store while CKB went into Best Buy for a moment (we could've just waited in the car while he was looking around - Best Buy is SOOOOO loud that I don't really like to go in there, but we didn't). And would you believe it, the people in there were no different! Shocking. It's like everyone thinks they are the only people around, that the store is there for them and them alone, that they don't need to watch out for anyone, but to just barge on along without any consideration for others. Common courtesy is all I'm looking for....is it gone forever?
(upside - found two dress shirts for CKB for $3 a piece on clearance - whoo hoo).

Don't get me started on our shopping excursion the other day when a woman in such a hurry trying to get past us ran into Miss E and just kept on going. ARGH.

When I am in a store w/the children, I do not let them run loose pushing past people, getting in front of people, being just plain rude. The whole time we are out is a learning experience as we try to stay to one side of the aisle, watch out for the other guy (because they are NOT looking out for us!) and to say "excuse me" when we need to walk past someone on the aisle and they're stopped looking at something.

Am I the only one?

Am I the only one who still thinks you should be quiet in a library? I have seen some amazing things in the local library during "storytime" in the mornings - 50+ children running, yelling, etc. all over the children's area while the moms gab away in the plush chairs - ack! I shouldn't have to call to find out when story time is so I can avoid the library like the plague....should I? Is it too much to ask for the library to still be the quiet refuge it was in my youth? I want my children to have that same experience - to learn to be quiet and choose some books to take home, not to run like banshees and disturb the other folks in there....wait, those people are all deaf anyway b/c of the story time brigades that were in there previously - nothing to worry about I guess....

Am I the only one who thinks you DO need to wear shoes in Wal-mart? I'm horrified to see barefoot children - little children - walking around Wal-mart. How many people tromp through those stores every day? Yuck!

Am I the only one who thinks you should keep hold of your tiny children in a busy parking lot? It's a wonder some of these children make it to adulthood the way they run out in front of cars. Grownups are almost worse - many just stroll on out there without looking either way - I guess they figure other people will watch out for them....

I suppose I'll end this now before I think of other mind boggling activities I've witnessed of late....someone out there, tell me I'm not alone...

The next time we need to "just get out" I think we'll head for a park instead and save the shopping for weekdays...if at all.