This afternoon I collected V from school and decided to stop at a nearby supermarket. I pass it every day but have only been in there once. And that was about a year ago.
I wanted to see the range/variety of baby food they had. It wasn’t extensive, but better than my other local store.
V and I picked up a few things for Baby V and we were still looking at other stuff when I decided I needed a basket. There weren’t any around that I could see.
I asked a cashier (in a red uniform) where the baskets were. She waved over her shoulder, indicating that they were near the entrance. Duh. You’d have thought I’d look there!
As I started making my way over, another lady (also in red, just like the cashier’s uniform) came walking towards us with a basket in her hands.
I thought that was nice of her – she’d heard me talking to the cashier. As she reached me, I made a move to take the basket from her and said, “Thank you so much!”
She looked at me, pulled the basket away and said, “Excuse me?”
And I realised my terrible mistake.
She didn’t work there! And she wasn’t giving me a basket!
Oops!
I hastily apologised and explained. But she looked at me as though I was something she found on the back of her shoe.
Again. Oops!
Tag: supermarket
Cutting The Line
This afternoon I took Vinay to go get some groceries.
After experiencing Park N’ Shop on a Saturday a few weeks ago, I decided I would try and avoid ALL grocery stores over the weekend as much as possible.
Alas, that was not possible today. I can’t even blame it on anyone. It’s only because of my own disorganisation.
Anyway, I whipped round the store as quickly as possible with Vinay sitting in the filthy trolley. There was no other choice – he either sat in the trolley or got run over by other trolleys. The place is tiny and cramped – two trolleys can’t fit side by side in the aisles. Two people can barely fit.
So I got to the till and stood behind (but not directly behind as the tills are L-shaped) the person paying. Another (Indian) lady turned up with her basket, stood in front of me and started unloading her stuff!
I just looked at her. I couldn’t believe it.
I said to Vinay (loudly), ‘Oh, I’m sure we were next in line.’ With a tiny hint of sarcasm, of course.
She looked at me, smiled and said, ‘I only have a couple of things, do you mind?’
I replied, ‘Well, since you’re already standing there there’s not really much I can do.’
She huffed and turned her attention back to her basket.
At that moment, one of the guys that work there took me over to another till, I paid and was out before she had finished. Hah!
So – should I have just stayed quiet?
She was older than me, but by no means elderly. She is what I would classify as an ‘aunty’ – anyone your parents age is called ‘aunty’ and ‘uncle’. But I didn’t know her. Should I have been more respectful?
If I had known her, would I have said anything? Probably not. Most of you would think that if she knew me she wouldn’t cut in front of me. But – I’ve experienced ‘aunties’ just standing in front of you in the line to pay. Why? Because they can. And they know you can’t do or say a damn thing about it. They’re friends of your parents or your in-laws. They talk and spread gossip and they KNOW you can’t do anything!
What would you have done?
The Diary of a Lagos Mum 