I was just trying to get my groceries, you know? Just a normal Tuesday afternoon. The sun was out, birds were singing, all that jazz. I really like Tuesdays. They’re quiet. I was in the produce section, picking out some nice looking apples. I like the Honeycrisps, they’re crunchy and sweet. I always give them a little sniff to make sure they’re fresh. It’s one of those things I do. My grandma used to say I had a nose for good fruit. Anyway, I was just minding my own business, filling up my basket, when I heard it. That sound. The sound of someone being loud and making a scene. I’d heard it before. Lots of times, actually. It’s like a siren call to chaos.
I glanced over towards the front of the store, near the customer service desk. There was a young man, probably early twenties, dressed like he thought he was going to a party. Skinny jeans, a t-shirt with some kind of band logo I didn’t recognize, and a baseball cap turned backward. He was talking to the cashier, a young woman who looked like she was about to cry. He was talking really loud, and she was shaking her head. Then, this other woman comes up. She had a bunch of little kids with her, all trailing behind her like a flock of ducklings. Three of them, I think. They were all dressed in matching outfits, which was kind of cute, but also a little much. She had a bright pink purse slung over her shoulder and she was wearing sunglasses, even though it was inside. She looked… like she was important. Like everyone should be paying attention to her.
The young man was holding a gaming console, still in the box. He was gesturing wildly with it, almost hitting the cashier with it. He seemed really mad. The woman with the kids walked right up to the counter, pushing past some other people who were waiting. She didn’t even say excuse me. She just sort of elbowed her way in. The cashier looked even more stressed now. She was trying to talk to the young man, but he wasn’t listening. He was too busy yelling about how he deserved this game for free. He said he’d bought another one last week and it was broken, and this one should be a replacement. But the cashier was saying that wasn’t how it worked. You had to return the broken one first. He was just shouting that he was a loyal customer and they should just give it to him. He said he was going to tell all his friends how bad this store was.
The woman with the kids, she’d heard him too. She just stood there for a second, watching. Then she turned to the cashier and said, in a very loud voice, that she needed help. She had three kids who were hungry and she was in a hurry. She said she needed to buy some juice boxes and some cookies, and she needed them now. The cashier, bless her heart, tried to explain that she was helping this other customer. But the woman with the kids just cut her off. She said she didn’t care about the game guy. She had kids. Kids were important. She said that the cashier should prioritize her because her children were suffering from thirst and hunger. It was dramatic. The kids, they were just looking around, a little confused. One of them started to fuss.
The young man, he stopped yelling for a second to look at her. He seemed to think she was on his side. He nodded at her. Then he went back to yelling at the cashier. The woman with the kids started rummaging in her giant pink purse. She pulled out a crumpled ten-dollar bill and slapped it on the counter. She told the cashier to get her the juice boxes and cookies and give her the change. The cashier, she was really trying. She said, “Ma’am, I need to finish with this customer first. He’s already here.” The woman scoffed. She said that was ridiculous. She had kids. She said she was going to report the cashier for bad service. She said she would be writing a letter to the store manager. She said her children were the future, and the cashier was treating them poorly.
Then, a completely unexpected thing happened. A man who had been standing in line behind the woman with the kids, a quiet-looking guy with glasses, coughed. It wasn’t a small cough. It was a loud, attention-grabbing cough. Then, he started talking. He said that he’d been waiting for about ten minutes, and that the young man with the game had been there even longer. He said that the woman with the kids had just walked up and started yelling. He said it wasn’t fair to the people who were waiting their turn. He said that everyone had things to do and places to be, and that cutting in line and making a scene wasn’t okay. He wasn’t yelling, but his voice was firm. The woman with the kids, she turned to him, her sunglasses still on. She looked absolutely furious. She opened her mouth to say something, but then her phone rang. It was a really loud, obnoxious ringtone. It was like a techno song. She answered it, and started talking really fast, still looking at the man with glasses. She was saying something about how he was being rude and how she had children. The man with glasses just calmly took out his own phone. He looked like he was doing something important on it.
The young man with the game console, he’d had enough. He threw the game box on the counter. It made a loud thud. He said he was done. He was going to go to the store across the street. He stormed out of the store, looking really mad. The woman with the kids, she hung up her phone. She looked around like she’d lost something. She saw the young man leaving. She then looked back at the cashier, and then at the man with glasses. She seemed to realize she wasn’t going to get her way. She huffed. She grabbed one of her kids, who was now crying, and marched out of the store too, without buying anything. The man with glasses just stood there for a second, then he put his phone away. He walked up to the counter. The cashier looked at him, a little shaky. He just smiled and said, “I’ll take these apples, please. And maybe a pack of gum.” The cashier started to ring him up, and I finished picking out my apples. It was a weird afternoon, but at least it was over. I went to get my milk, and I saw the woman with the kids sitting on a bench outside, trying to calm down her crying child. She looked annoyed, but she wasn’t yelling anymore. Sometimes, that’s all it takes. Just a little pushback. And maybe a loud cough.
