Me and my awesome self

Today I visited hell, or as it’s known by the common man, Wegmans the day before a Nor’easter. Now, you may, justifiably, think this is going to be post about bad judgment and the fact that my brain is broken, but no, this is about niceness.

The biggest reason I cannot stand Wegmans, is no so much the crowds, well, yes, but more that the general rudeness of people is highlighted and heightened when there are large groups all careening toward the same end goal — spaghetti sauce, lettuce,  goat cheese, etc. On any day it’s a veritable nightmare.  Today it was hell.

After deciding that I’d had enough and could just pick up the rest of the items at Giant, I headed for the checkout. I chose a line with two women in front of me. Now, I’m not going to dwell on the fact that the woman directly in front of me (the middle-aged daughter) did not really accommodate nor make room for me to put my groceries on the belt behind hers. I will just say that once I started doing this task, her husband and daughter appeared out of nowhere with an armload of more groceries. Being the awesome gal I am, I pushed my items back to make more room for their newly-arriving items, which the woman was frantically waving in.

During this time, not once did the woman or man apologize or even thank me for making more room. Only their teenage daughter seemed bashful about adding on the new items and apologized as she squeezed past. Now, I started to, in my mind, rant about rudeness and such, but when I gave it more thought, I turned the tables and chastised myself instead.

Why you ask??? Because a large part of the reason I was mad was because my totally-awesome selfless act of immediately pushing items back the minute I saw the man, went unrecognized and unappreciated. I was a better person; I sacrificed my own happiness for that of complete strangers. I mean, doesn’t that deserve praise? No.

Being a good person is absolutely a choice. It is easier, more convenient, and a hell of a lot less annoying to be a jerk, to not think of anyone else and do whatever it is you want, even at the expense of others. Think about it. Leaving your shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot is far easier than walking it to the cart return, sliding through the yellow light is more convenient than letting someone sneak in or make a left, and it’s far less annoying when you don’t worry about cleaning up the coffee, soda, or whatever, you spilled on the gas station floor and just walk on out.

But people make conscious decisions every day to the right thing. And, yes, some good deeds should be rewarded, but practicing good manners and generally being a nice person should be because you want to be that way, not because you want to be acknowledged by others for your selflessness.

So today as it would turn out, I was the one who needed a reality check.

But seriously, though, if you live on the Northeast, do yourself a favor AND DON”T GO TO THE GROCERY STORE. Those people are just out for blood.

Hello cool new (to me) band…

it’s very cute, coy, and fun all at the same time

i’m in love