'Tis the Season for Stupid People?

I hope not.

I appreciate that in the neighborhoods where I shop people are generally friendly and patient--both customers and workers. (Drivers are a different story, though.) I've had my experiences working in retail and food, so I try not to freak out on people when service is bad; however, because I have worked in those types of jobs, I do know it's not as hard as some people make it.

Three times this weekend, while doing basically normal stuff, I met inept or rude people. Does this mean that a season of hell is upon us?

Yesterday at Target, I met the slowest, dumbest checker ever. You'd think that with her turtle speed she wouldn't have to stop after every couple of items and double check that it went through. Yo chick! Did you hear it beep when you scanned it? It went! But go ahead and search through the bag just to be sure you have the correct number. She could sense that I didn't trust her abilities and told me that I could go to customer service if I found any errors. I really wanted to take her by the hand and say, "Listen, honey, you will not make it through next week, let alone the holiday season. Quit now."

Yea, I worked retail in a big store like that when I was in college. Not that hard. Greet. Scan, scan, bag. Take money. Give change. Buh bye!

Later in the day, bless my sweetie's heart, he stopped for takeout so I wouldn't have to cook. It was around the dinner hour when we pulled into Jack-in-the-Box, but it wasn't really busy. We used drive-thru to save time dragging kids in and out of the car. Nothing special in our order, yet we were asked to pull around to the front to wait for our food. (I guess so we wouldn't keep the nonexistent people behind us waiting.) And we waited ten minutes! And then the dude walked all over the parking lot looking for us. When we found us, he just gave us our food. No apology for it taking so long or anything. Seriously. Were they not waiting for people to show up and order some burgers? And maybe some fries?

Again, been there, done that. Sucky job, but not that hard.

Oh! And let me throw this out there since I rarely have an opportunity to rant about fast food. Well, this goes for anyone giving change, but it's really important in a drive-thru. It bugs the hell out of me when people give you your change and they put the currency in your hand, then the receipt, and finally the change. Essentially, the currency and receipt serve as a SLIDE for the coins. Why am I the only one who has it figured out that it's easier to hold it all if the coins go in the hand first?

Okay, back onto crazy people I met this weekend...

I stopped by Walgreens today to pick up a few things I forgot elsewhere. Have you ever been to Walgreens or any of those other corner drugstores (they're all the same to me) when they had more than one checker? If you have, you obviously don't frequent any of the dozens of drugstores in my 'hood. One checker. Who cares how many checkstands. One checker.

So, I'm in line behind two people and I hear a voice behind me, "Only one checker?" Duh, I think to myself. Always!

So, I go on spacing off until the line moves forward. There are still two people ahead of me despite the fact that one just left. The lady in behind me, a very little old lady dressed for church, is actually trying to sneak into the line ahead of me. She was the owner of the incredulous voice I'd heard a few minutes before. I didn't know what to do, so I decided that crowding my way in front of her to my rightful place would not make me look like a good person since she was a little old lady and all, so I asked her if she'd like to go ahead of me. Afterall, she only had two things, and I had four. Sheesh.

She thanked me and told me she was in a hurry. She was carrying bleach and a stuffed Santa. Perhaps I shouldn't judge, but maybe she shouldn't have stopped to pick out a stuffed Santa? Wanna talk about hurry? My husband was home making lunch for the kids. Using the oven. Trust me. Potentially scary situation.

Ah, how I sound like a Class A *itch. 'Tis the season for irritable people like me. Watch out!