tomshaggy.com

I swear the supermarket is the best place to meet people.  Well, maybe not meet, but certainly people watch.  I have been to the deli line twice in the last week, and I have to tell you, I found myself in two of the most awkward situations.  The first one totally caught me off guard and nearly got me into a fight.

A man, about 70 years old, is standing in line waiting to make his purchase.  He was about 70 years old, but he looked older.  Now this guy is just standing there silent, not making a sound.  I am casually looking about at the different cheeses pretending that I know anything about Boar’s Head products.  Out of no where a man in his mid 30′s approaches the older man and practically hip checks the guy and tells him flat out that he’s lucky he doesn’t fight him right then and there.  The old man is quickly embarrassed at this point and doesn’t really seem to understand what he’s done.  It’s clear to me that this guy is thinking about all the World War II battles he’s bled in and the freedoms he’s kept safe for us, while this guy releases a bunch of hot air from his lungs. After a moment nothing seemed to phase the old man, even with a giant finger pointed in his face.  I’m sure if he had it his way the old man would have broken that finger off and put in a place it would have been hard to recover.

Now without even blinking an eye this younger man turns tail and continues shopping, not before showing off his bravado.  He stares down myself and the old man one last time.   Luckily, I didn’t have all the details of this situation otherwise I would have been in the middle of it all tell this younger man to “eff” off.  For all I knew, the old man practically ran over his son.

Now the second encounter I had in the deli line was a bit more comical in my eyes.  I did not have any interaction with this woman, I just observed “from afar.”  No doubt it took a while to get out orders filled, but it doesn’t really make this any less funny.  I have a pretty positive outlook on life most of the time, but this woman had it out for the world.  It did not help that the staff on the slicers were all talking about some party they were going to, or that so-and-so was picking them up at the 7/11, etc.  The worst parts of this suburban town began to shine through as I realized she was passing judgment on every single one of them.  I could only imagine the things that she was thinking, but I can’t even begin to mention them.  She was just a walking pile of ignorance.  The comedy came from watching her roll her eyes and her face turning a darker shade of red every two minutes or so. When they finally came to her she began ordering the staff around and asking for the most ridiculous requests.  She actually orders a 1/3 lb. of roast beef.  Who the hell does that?  Luckily, my order was filled and I no longer had to watch this slave driver in action.

What get’s me the most is the total lack of appreciation for the blue collar worker.  When in all actuality this country relies on the job security of said class.  The white collar community often can’t stand blue collar’s and look down on them for the “dirty” jobs we do, but yet you hire us to do everything you don’t want to do.  Without the deli workers or ditch diggers or lawn care-givers many people would be left to fend for themselves…God Forbid.