Express Lanes

[talon]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20014156-504083.html?tag=stack

I no longer use express lanes, even if I only have 1 single item, especially when I'm shopping out of state. Why? People like this man in this article.

I don't change lanes , either, once I'm in one, again, because of people like this man.

I'm there to buy groceries (usually), and I don't particularly want to deal with unpleasant, rude, obnoxious people. It's bad enough when they make snide comments on my purchase choices, weight, or hearing partner. This mostly happens when I'm shopping out of state - except at WalMart, where the employees as well as the shoppers are generally quite rude. This never fails to surprise me, because I have a number of friends who are WalMart employees, and I know they are kind, generous, friendly people so I'd think most other WalMart employees would be that way, too. I have to admit, I've never encountered my friends while they were at work, so I don't know if they undergo some sort of weird metamorphosis as soon as they put on the WalMart work vest, and all the other WalMart employees are also kind, generous, and friendly when they aren't at work. Since I no longer shop there alone and rarely shop there even then, I'm not willing to find this out.

I've seen cashiers grab people's shopping carts and physically pull them out of the line they were standing in and move them to another line. (When they do this to me, even when I explain I'd like to remain in that first line, I leave the store.) And I've seen cashiers call customers to their lanes when they are empty regardless of the number of items in the cart.

Castigating someone who is already in line and in the process of checking out is crossing the line of good manners.

I'm glad this man received a fine for his behavior and wish people minded their manners a little better. I do kind of wish it didn't require police intervention (where was the store manager?), that societal expectations were enough to keep things like this from happening, but there it is. I wasn't there, I don't know what really happened, only that the man was verbally abusive, and the woman called 911. It shouldn't have escalated to that, but it did.