My Work is Following Me Home

At the grocery store last night.

-a rather “unkempt” and “disheveled” looking man cut me off with his grocery cart like he was in the last sprint of a 100m run

-an extremely slow moving young woman was packing up groceries at the end of the checkout line we were in. She was taking her time, removing items from the packaging before placing them in her bag. She was buying a tonne of baby products including diapers and about 10 sippy cups. She was taking care to fold and gently stack the cardboard boxes she removed from her items. Her purse appeared to be a child’s pink backpack.

We tried our best to pack our own groceries next to her. She started muttering and complaining about how the cashier was throwing other peoples things on her “stuff” and mixing it up. AM (love of my life and partner) suggested to her that perhaps if she moved somewhere else, it wouldn’t be a problem. The cashier then started complaining to ME how this woman had been there for 20 minutes, in the way of 3 previous customers. I tried gently suggesting to the cashier that she or someone who works at the store should help this young woman move along. It became clear this cashier was intimidated by the woman’s strange behaviour, and wanted nothing to do with it. I moved then and asked the woman if I could help her move her things, so they didn’t get “mixed up” but she refused. We tried to get out of the way as quickly as possible.

As we walked away, I began ranting (quietly) to AM about how the store should help her move to another area to pack her things instead of allowing everybody involved to become frustrated, as this woman was clearly confused and unwell and how I hoped what ever baby she was buying things for was well taken care of. I was quickly reminded by A that “not everyone can be a social worker” and that really nothing had come of the situation. He’s got a point.

-to top it all off, a woman (I swear) dressed as Cruella DeVille and smoking a long cigarette in a holder dashed in front of my car with her shopping cart right as the light turned green for me to leave the parking lot. I nearly had a heart attack, and then felt sorry for whatever fuzzy creature died to make the ridiculous and enormous hat she was wearing that must have been blocking her view of the “don’t walk” sign!