People

So I'm on the elevator today, heading up to my gym, and it stops a few floors before the 9th floor where I'm to get off. A lady gets on, and being the gentleman that I am, I ask her "What floor?" and obviously offer to push the button for her. She says not a word to me. Stares at the floor, then reaches over and pushed the button herself. Oh, and this is AFTER I said "Hello" and then asked her what floor. Again, she said NOT A WORD. So I'm thinking to myself, this woman is one of those people that just avoids conversation with strangers all together. You know the kind, they try to avoid conversation at all costs. Walking down a narrow hallway in a building or office? This person will duck into the bathroom or bend down at the water fountain, just to avoid having to say "Hi" or "Hello" or "Good day" or something like that. Or if there's nowhere to go, the person will just stare straight ahead or down at the shoes. Absolutely drives me nuts. Sure, small talk is small talk. But what's wrong with actually chatting with a stranger?

Well, I wasn't going to let her win. I just kept talking to her. About the weather. About the parking garage. About anything I could think of in the limited time I had with her in the elevator. And guess what. She didn't say a word. Maybe she was deaf? I have no idea. She just kind of looked at me with a weird smirk and said nothing. In my opinion, saying NOTHING is more awkward than just carrying on a conversation. You don't have to know the other person. Just be nice. Chat. Whatever!!

Then I go to Dick's Sporting Goods later today. I find what I need and I proceed to the register area to check-out. As I approach, I notice that the set-up isn't like what you see at a grocery store...where the registers/lanes are separated by racks of products (gum, magazines, etc.). At this place, each lane had two registers...one on the left and one of the right, but they were diagonal from each other. The one on the left was about 5 feet in front of the one on the right. Anyway, as I approach, there's a guy standing in front of the lane I want to go to, and I stop and wait for him to choose a side. He doesn't move, so I ask him which line he was in...the left one or the right one. He says to me, "Whichever one becomes available next." I didn't exactly understand and was trying to digest what he said, when a few seconds later, a lady comes up behind him, heard my question, and SHE answered the same way, as if I should have asked her because she was apparently in front of me in line (which wasn't the case. I hadn't really gotten behind the guy because I didn't know which line he was in, so she walks up and gets right behind him and snips at me.) Again, I'm taken aback, and I sit there trying to figure out what was going on. I decided to say something to the guy, but right then, a register freed-up, and he scurried away. The lady took a huge, exaggerated step in front of me, as if to prevent me from stepping in front of her. She then proceeded to turn sideways and keep an eye on me out of the corner of her eye.

Now I'm really starting to boil. I start thinking about what has transpired, and I'm about to boil. It's complete BS. Just think about it. Can you imagine going to the register at the grocery store, and as you approach the line, there's a dude standing between registers. You ask him which line he's in, and he replies, "Whichever one gets me to the register faster." So he expects everyone behind him to wait until he knows what line is moving faster.

That's not how it works. You choose a damn line and get in it. If you made the wrong choice, and the other lines move faster, tough luck. It's just like sitting in traffic. The minute you change lanes into the one that seems to be moving faster, it slows down and your old lane starts moving. That's life. Deal with it.

So all of this is going through my mind as she proceeds to a register and I'm waiting for this witch to finish paying for her crap. She's being all snippy at the girl at the register and slammed the pen down after signing her credit card slip. She glares back at me before she walks off, and I just said, "You have a VERY merry Christmas...MA'AM!!!!" She scoffed at me and stormed off. I hope she was one of those idiots that gets mad when you don't say "Happy Holidays."

The girl behind the counter just kinda laughed. She said, "You know, I deal with people like her everyday. You just have to learn to laugh about it. It's her problem, not mine, not yours, not anyone elses. You just can't let people like that get to you." What she said made sense. But I still don't have the patience for people like that....