Confession of a Friday After Thanksgiving Shopper

Below is a column I wrote awhile back ‘pre-cancer’. While I don’t shop in stores – I shop on-line, I used to enjoy going to the stores finding that particular item for each of my kids, etc.  I only went one time with my daughters to shop on Black Friday.  It was fun because I was with my daughters.  We finished our shopping with breakfast at sunrise! Once was quite enough for this ole girl.

But suffice to say what I wrote back then still speaks to me today and so I share: The Confession of a Friday After Thanksgiving Shopper….

Within my imaginary confessional I write: “I was rude today.” No, I was not one of those crazy discount ‘Black Friday’ shoppers at the front door of various places to knock down others to get what they consider great deals!  No, I was a grocery shopper today.

For the past three days I have been home, sick with a fever and feeling like death warmed over.  I came home from work on Tuesday and curled up on my couch where I remained until this morning.  Our family decided this year to celebrate our Thanksgiving on Saturday since two of my children are in retail and they had to go work on Thanksgiving Day to satisfy corporate greed.  I needed to finish purchasing some last minute items for our dinner on Saturday.  So I went out, scraped the frost off the windows of my car and proceeded to drive to my favorite grocery store.  If I have to shop and if it is after days of feeling ill at least I want to make it pleasant – for me!

There was no traffic since everyone else in the city was at one of the malls.  I pulled into a mostly empty parking lot and was able to park very close to the door – excellent.  Upon walking into the store I was greeted with smiling clerks and not many people shopping – excellent!   I zipped through the aisles and got all that I needed and then proceeded to the check-out cashiers – did I state ‘cashiers’?  I meant ‘cashier’ – there was only one and people with grocery carts were milling around for what I don’t know because they weren’t getting in line.  A woman called out to me and said ‘mam, I can take you in lane 7!’  – excellent.  So I zipped out and zoomed into lane 7 with agility and poise while blocking a man and his cart from getting ahead of me.  From the corner of my eye I noticed that he was saying something to the person with him about me pushing in front of him.  Really?   She said ‘mam’ not ‘man.’

Now, I never am a rude shopper – I’m always the one letting someone in front of me, holding the door for another to get in before me or allowing a shopper to take the last of the item I was also wanting.  But today the rude person inside of me made its presence known to the world and now the good Catholic girl inside me needs to ‘confess it.’

So as I finish writing my confession I want to state that my justification is that I’ve been sick, and I was in a hurry so not to make others sick (okay – that’s a stretch, and I can see Sister Mary Joseph my second grade teacher frowning at me). In reality I’m repeating what others I have come across every time I go shopping in which they believe they own the store and the aisle and they never say excuse me, or I’m sorry.  Today I became one of them.  Well I am sorry and half way home I wanted to go back and tell the man ‘excuse me.’

There really is no justification for being rude, for being unkind or just plain becoming indifferent to another.   We are reminded during the holidays with songs of peace on earth, goodwill towards mankind.  Well that’s not going to happen if we each believe we own the store, the aisles and never having to say excuse me or sorry.  It is a lesson we all need to learn and as I write that I envision Sister Mary Joseph smiling and sighing that maybe I did learn something in second grade. I hope so.

Now for my penance – I think three Our Fathers, three Hail Mary’s should cover it!