Once I turned 50, I started venting my frustration at the irritations of life. It felt good, so I kept doing it. I call these periodic and hopefully humorous verbal tantrums Old Man Rants. This rant is dedicated to my Dad. Let’s get to it:

The Grocery Store
Would you park your car in the middle of the street? Of course not! Stopping your vehicle in the middle of an active passageway just reeks of stupidity. And yet, each week at the grocery store, some fool parks their cart right in the middle of an aisle and leaves it there while they walk up and down, studying and staring, putting way too much thought into what kind of ketchup they should buy. Just grab the ketchup and move on for God’s sake, or at least pull your cart to the side so those of us that have lives can get around you and go live them.
And by the way, if you’re going to use the self checkout lane, please know how it works in advance or be smart enough to figure it out quickly. Scan, bag, scan, bag… It’s not that hard!
Ah! I feel better now, time to go chase some punks off my lawn.
For more Old Man Rants, plus articles of a more serious and useful nature, visit Five O’Clock Shadow, an online magazine by Todd Fulginiti.
Love this…so relatable! Yesterday I had some trouble in the self-checkout line…I swear I have “performance anxiety”…no matter what I do, something gets messed up and the lone checker/supervisor person has to tend to me anyhow. LOL. And I try not to be the one who ambles along, leaving a cart in the middle of the aisle. So annoying. Your post was fun! Thank you, Todd! 😉
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks Victoria! Performance anxiety 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m the person in the self-checkout line with the child that wants to help. Performance anxiety for sure!!
I’m chuckling, Todd. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 3 people
😁Ah yes- kid helpers can make for some great stories and mishaps. Once, when we were growing up, my brother insisted on helping to drive our rented little motor boat. We ended up stuck under a pile of tree branches just offshore from a small island in the lake 😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s a good “helper” story, Todd! 🙂
LikeLike
This is funny😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mom- I dedicated it Dad since he brought this nonsense to my attention 😁
LikeLike
I have some other grocery store rants i can stare with you- maybe for a future post!
Unfortunately I am probably the one looking at every bottle of ketchup LOL!
Have to use my coupons!! I do pull my cart over to the side though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah! Rant it up and you can post as a guest columnist😎 Pulling the cart to the side is good and ranks you higher in Heaven than the aisle hoggers 😂
LikeLike
The grocery store is a testing ground, a gauntlet we’re forced to run to prove we’re adult enough to interact with society. I mostly fail – my sotto voce and inside voice aren’t kind. And could we also all agree to keep right? Geez.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the grocery gauntlet idea 😂. Thanks for commenting!
LikeLiked by 1 person