I’m a little embarrassed to tell you this, but I recently got scammed by a little old lady.
I felt like a complete sucker, and who wouldn’t?! I mean, no one is prepared to be scammed by a little old lady. You’d expect it from a lawyer, or financial planner, or a car salesman, a college exams administrator, an insurance company, a government, a president, a dictator (same thing)… but never a little old lady!
You know, I’m a really well adjusted human being, and a total sweetheart, which you can probably tell from reading my blog, so when a little old lady asks me for a favor, I’m ready to oblige, which is what happened last week while standing in a long line at the supermarket. This little old lady standing behind me asked if she could go ahead of me. This was after she struck up a conversation; she was quite the character.
Okay, looking back, I can clearly see she was a friggin’ nut job, but at that moment, she was just a good conversationalist; she did most of the talking. In fact, she wouldn’t shut the fuck up. Just as I was about to get to the cash register, she asked if she could go ahead of me, so seeing as how she only had two items and I had several, I told her to go ahead.
Turns out, just because someone only has one or two items, doesn’t mean they’re going to take less time.
She was able to flimflam me; she charmed me with her chattiness, then slid in front of me where she began to create all kinds of drama and stalling and holding everybody up in line behind her.
First, she asked for cigarettes, which are kept locked up in the front of the store, so the manager has to come with the key to open the cabinet to get them. Then she started in on the price, saying she wanted to have a clerk double check it. But when he verified it was correct, she started loudly arguing with the clerk about it and wouldn’t back down, so now all of us are stuck behind this cigarette-smoking troll, disguised as a little old lady, and were forced to wait while she created this unnecessary drama.
Not once did she look over to me and apologize for causing this inconvenience after I was kind enough to let her go ahead of me, because it was her plan all along. She’s the type of person whose only goal in life is to cause conflict and suck other people into it with her so everybody’s miserable.
You know the type.
I got pissed off that I fell for it, and I promised myself I’d never fall for it again.
Well I got tested on that promise yesterday while at another supermarket. I was just about to have my groceries checked out by the clerk, when a little old lady with three items asked if she could go ahead of me.
I almost… almost… let her go, but remembered the little old lady flimflam from last time and quickly shut her down:
“Not if you’re going to write a check.” I snapped.
Clearly, she was going to write a goddamn check. I get steamed every time some idiot pulls out a check book at the register. Really? You can’t use a fucking debit card like ninety nine percent of the population? Or… well it used to be ninety nine percent of the population until the ability to scan a payment from your smartphone was invented. I’m not sure what the percentage would be now and… hmm, well I can’t be bothered to research it.
It doesn’t matter, the point is… the point is…
What? How do I know she was gonna write a check? Well she looked like the type who would write a check. Plus, she gave me this look which I can only describe as getting busted… or maybe it was exasperation… whatever, it wasn’t my fucking problem. I quickly checked out and left, not looking back. I’m never letting a little old lady in front of me again, I’ll tell you that much.
Fuck ‘em.
You know, I just realized, no matter how much Botox I get injected into my forehead, it’s never enough to hide the disgust on my face.
haha! Great post. This is one of my pet peeves, too. There’s nothing ‘express’ about writing a check. Uggh. It’s like driving. After letting far too many drivers get into traffic in front of me – and invariably driving 5 miles per hour, I rationalized that I can’t let anyone get into traffic anymore. Why? They are not skilled enough to do it on their own, so they’ll fuck up your commute if you let them in. 😉
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Oh yeah, that’s another one isn’t it? Not letting someone into traffic. Especially if they’re old
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I wonder if they drive to the supermarket and pay with checks?
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Jeez. Why can’t they wait in line like the rest of us? Where’s the damn fire? I never ask to go ahead, even when running errands on my lunch period. I don’t even complain when someone brings too many items to the quick lane…I count, but I don’t say anything. For all I know the cashier invited them into their lane. Once in a while when feeling especially benevolent (rare, as you might imagine), I will offer to let someone go ahead of me. And I do let people in, in traffic. Yes, I know. I am a fucking saint. 😉
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It’s good to be kind… is what I’ve heard
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I’ve seen checks written for less than a dollar…always in front of me.
Getting old has its advantages. My grandmother was in her 80s during the 1980s…I was with her in line and she looked at me and smiled and turned around and rammed a dude in front of us with her cart…he turned around mad as hell but softened when he saw it was an old lady and smiled…she turned again and was giggling.
The point is…THEY KNOW
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They DO know, damnit! I knew it
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Senicide. The killing of old people. Our nomadic ancestors were the first to find out that old people who couldn’t keep up were annoying. Vexatious enough to get a rock to the cranium at any rate… apparently these days its frowned upon.
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Wow, that’s seriously dark. I won’t go that far, but maybe a kick to the ankle
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Careful… ha ha… its a slippery slope. One minute its a kick to the ankle (which I imagine is actually quite debilitating to someone of a certain epoch) next thing you’re standing in an old age home with a claw-hammer wondering how you got there…
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I’m already in the old age home with claw hammer
On Thu, May 30, 2019 at 11:22 PM Clever Girl Writes… wrote:
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Hopefully hanging some pictures?
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Hopefully
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Little old ladies = fuck ‘em
I like you.
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Aww, shucks
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That was awesome! I got scammed the same way at baggage check last week, NEVER AGAIN, LOL!!!
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They’re everywhere!
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Old people are devious…good call…
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More people are catching on
On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 12:20 AM Clever Girl Writes… wrote:
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You can’t change how you treat old ladies on the basis of one interaction.
But two… DEFINITELY…
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I knew you’d understand
On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 2:29 AM Clever Girl Writes… wrote:
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Did that once. Never again. Funny how universal this is.
As for the expressive face, it gives me away all the time.
Great post
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Rampant old people, of which, I will one day be.
On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 5:32 AM Clever Girl Writes… wrote:
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Don’t rush it
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Paying with exact change can take almost as long as writing a check sometimes. And don’t get me started on coupons! Great post!
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True on both counts
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I had no idea you could still pay by cheque anywhere!
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Only old people can pay by check to annoy others
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lol! She just *looked* like she was going to write a check. Grocery stores make me hate everyone, but I have a huge soft spot for old people. I could have one item and I’d still let a little old lady with 100 items go before me
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Note to self: Don’t get in line behind Rosie at the supermarket 🙂
On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 8:50 AM Clever Girl Writes… wrote:
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Even worse, is being the cashier and having to deal with that all fucking day. lol
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True, but at least they’re getting paid
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You have no idea what we put up with. Paid or not, I want to fork stab.
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We don’t take cheques in Canada.
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