The Smaller Person

I had a chance today to be the smaller person. I didn't take it. I walked away the bigger person. In retrospect, I really wish I had been the smaller person. Really. Really. Wish.

I was in Sobey's picking up some munchies for Mike's poker game tonight. I picked up some other much-needed items and headed towards the check-outs. There were three tills open - one lane was full, one lane was empty and the last lane was express. I was probably 5-10 items over the limit so I headed towards the empty lane. A woman was heading towards the same lane, but she was coming from the opposite direction. At the point when we were about equal distance from the opening of the lane, this woman did the unthinkable. She shoved her cart towards the empty lane in an effort to secure the spot. If this was all she did, I could have lived with that. Kudos to her for taking the initiative or whatever. But it didn't end there. This woman THEN turned around and walked BACK to customer service and stood in line for cigarettes!! It took me a moment or two to take in this little shenanigan. I very much wanted to take her cart, yank it backwards and take my rightful spot in line. Instead, I wussed out and headed towards the express lane. I sheepishly asked the cashier if it was okay if I could go over the limit to which he responded "Yes...it's not a hard and fast rule."

Who knows if I would have felt any better had I actually shoved her cart out of the way...but I remained the bigger person. As my dad as always said, "Bring them up to your level - don't go down to theirs". That being said, I hope she slipped on the ice in the parking lot and broke her femur in six different places. But it's not like I'm bitter or anything. ;)