express lane

[mamajoan]

OMG, a post in customers_suck just reminded me of something that happened a couple weeks ago that I meant to post about and never did.

I was at Whole Foods and it was fairly busy (uh, now that I think of it, it was in fact Dec 23rd, so it was the two-days-before-Xmas rush). I get on the 12-items-or-fewer[sic] line and notice that the woman in front of me has, well, more than 12 items. I mean, not like 50, but definitely at least 15. So I said to her, in what I thought was a fairly friendly non-confrontational tone, "That looks like more than twelve to me."

She goes, "Oh, by all means, go right ahead. Be my guest." While pushing her cart out of the line and heading off toward another line. And I believe as she walked off she shot me a "Merry Christmas" on her way.

I honestly and truly couldn't decide whether she was being sarcastic. I mean, she didn't give me an obviously dirty look and her tone wasn't obviously nasty. But maybe she was and I was just too clueless to pick up on her overly-subtle snark. Or, maybe she was embarrassed at being caught out. I don't know. Anyway, it was interesting. I rarely give a crap about how many items people have (unless it's WAY over the limit), so I don't know what possessed me that time. Afterward I wasn't sure whether I should feel guilty or triumphant. *blush*

Now I wonder if she went home and posted on her blog about the bitch who kicked her out of the express lane. Heh.

Comments

[sigrun.livejournal.com]

Without knowing her (obviously) but having heard the details, I'd definitely wager a guess that she was being sarcastic.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more likely that seems. Just at the time I was like, "huh, what just happened?"

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

"12 items or fewer" is correct. It's "12 items or less" that is wrong. There's only one store in my area that gets it right; all the rest say "or less."

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Umm, I know that. I'm the English Chick, remember? :) I put the "sic" in to point out how nice it is to have a store that gets it right.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

I thought "sic" meant that you were repeating something that was incorrect.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Well, literally it means "thus" and is used to point out when you're quoting something exactly as it was written elsewhere and want to call attention to that fact. So yes, it's usually used when you're repeating something that has errors, but it can also be used the way I used it here.

[dpaul007.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, she was just pissed that a) she got caught, and b) someone (you) had the ovaries to call her on it.

My undying respect, J.