Cart Rage

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2008 (6385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On my way to one of two festive events yesterday, I stopped at the supermarket with my one year old daughter to pick up some ingredients for my famous bagged Caesar salad (my meager contribution to my mom’s enormous Thanksgiving feast).

While in the produce aisle, I bumped into a family we know from our church and I stopped to say hi and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. While greeting the family, I noticed my daughter’s nose was running, so I took out a wipe to clean her delicate little face. 

It was at this point that I was startled by, I think, the rudest woman in Winnipeg, who ordered me to get out of the way because she was in a “REALLY BIG HURRY TODAY!”

Deep breath Demetra.

I calmly proceeded to move my cart out of the way and said to the rudest woman in Winnipeg, “I was just wiping my daughter’s nose and it was only going to take a few seconds.”

Well, my calm remark was lost on this frustrated woman who yelled at me once again and proceeded to speed away pushing her cart of terror. 

So, having been yelled at twice now by this delightful lady, I decided it was appropriate, more so for the benefit of my daughter, to deliver one more heckle to the spiteful shopper who was no doubt in a hurry to spread even more holiday glee to mothers with young children everywhere.

“It looks like someone is having a very bad day today,” was my final retort, and not at all close to what I really wanted to say to this woman. 

You know, I wish I could say this was the first time I’ve encountered cart rage at the grocery store, but sadly that’s not the case. One day a man almost took off my son’s hand as he literally rammed into us while trying to squeeze through a tight space. No apology either.

It’s really disheartening to see, and especially on a holiday, that some people would rather yell or ram into a mother with child at the grocery store than simply taking another route.

Or how about pausing for a brief moment and allowing a mother to wipe her daughter’s nose or just saying, “Excuse me please.”

But I’m probably preaching to the choir on this one.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving that wasn’t tainted by the rudeness of an agitated holiday shopper. And if anyone would like to share a good car rage/cart rage story, and how you handled the situation in front of your kids, please feel free.