Speed bumps, SUVs, and Snarky Women

There are speed bumps everywhere.  All shapes and sizes too.  The ones that are in our parking garage  resemble large fallen trees.  They launch you upward at the initial bump and when you land back on your seat it compresses your spinal column and diaphragm causing a sharp exhale. There are small little bumps, and large sloping ones called speed "humps".  There are also small couplings of speed bumps that resemble oranges.  I'm not sure what they're called...bumpies?

Many people have SUVs. And wouldn't you know that the biggest ones, Hummers, Escalades, are usually driving by tiny women? A large portion of the vehicles are luxury cars; Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, etc. Not many Sentras.  Which is convenient in a parking lot.

For the most part, the interactions we've had with people have been pleasant and uneventful.  The best so far are the people at Kaiser, they are so friendly and seem to be happy there.  The same goes for the employees at the Target near our apt.  They are friendly and also funny, my favorite kind of people.

After work today, Ashley and I went grocery shopping.  The store wasn't crowded or busy and the lines were normal in length.  Shortly after we had joined the checkout line a woman in her 50s had lined up behind us.  The conveyor belt was full of our groceries, and Ashley and I were bagging them as the cashier quickly went through. The woman behind us had rolled her eyes at Ashley and I a few times when we were laughing and talking, but no other interaction had occurred. It came time for us to pay and I stepped back in line in front of the cashier.  This was difficult because the woman behind us had placed her cart in the way, and didn't move it for me to get back at my wallet which I had left at the card swipe in front of the cashier. She just stood there with an annoyed look on her face.  I said, "oh, we're not done yet" and I moved her cart out of the way.  She then said back to me, "maybe if you lose weight it would be easier".  I got that awful feeling that just waves over you; I was so embarrassed and flustered.  She wouldn't make eye contact with me, even though I was frozen and staring at her.  Our cashier, who was a young man, tried to keep things going and asked us how we wanted to split the bill.  I couldn't even think right, I just kept stuttering.  I just wanted to run away...or punch her in the face, to be honest.  The cashier directly behind had seen the interaction between this woman and I, and could tell how shaken up I was.  She touched my shoulder and asked me, "miss are you okay?"  I responded that I was fine, just really shocked. Finally we paid and had all of our groceries in the cart. I turned back to the woman and said, "life can't be easy when you are that rude to people, ma'am."

I don't even know what I meant by that.  We thanked the cashiers for their help and left.  When we got to the car I told Ashley what the woman had said, and in so many words, Ashley replied that it was good she hadn't heard clearly at the time, or she would have addressed the situation differently.

That woman was just so rude, and honestly, kind of hurt my feelings. Her actions didn't change the situation.  We didn't move faster.  If anything, she slowed us down because I got so upset.  Usually I can shrug people off, but this bothered me.   What was the right response? Should I have said something else?  What would you have done?

Ashley's initial response was, "you would never have something like that happen in Pittsburgh!" and she's right.  So tonight I'll close with my favorite yearbook sign off to all you people on the East coast..

Stay sweet,
Megan