(The photo above is of the actual Costco parking lot I was in- this image has been floating around the web for awhile, but I don't know who took it...)
So I wrapped up my shopping at Costco today (I love Costco!), wheeled out my groceries, and was thinking about a slice of the combo Costco pizza from the snack bar. Cruised over to the Element, opened the tailgate, and started putting my groceries in. About the third box in, I noticed her: the parking space stalker. Dumpy, mid-fifties, dark glasses, turquoise Ponitac, stopped in the middle of the lot, scanning for a spot. Normally, me being the friendly guy I am, I'll let a person know if I'm not leaving- maybe staying for a slice of pizza, who knows? But when I looked up, she didn't acknowledge me in the slightest, nothing even resembling a nod, or "Hi, are you leaving?". Instead, she had her nose buried in some colorful-looking mail (I knew it was mail, I saw the open envelope in her hand).
I finished putting my groceries away, shut the gate, then pushed my cart over to the cart "corral". I turned around, walked past my car, and back to Costco and my lunch. I look both ways before crossing the busy driveway, as I've been taught (and as I taught my son), and turn my head just as the lot stalker roars past; she glares at me through an open window, then yells "Asshole!" as she drives off.
Nice. So I'm an asshole for not giving her my spot? Maybe I'm an asshole for letting her wait, then not giving her my spot. But then I realize, it's not me that's the asshole, she is! For assuming that I was leaving, for assuming prematurely that she had ownership of that space, for not letting me know she wanted "my" spot (and assuming that I was going to give it to her), and for yelling "asshole" at a complete stranger because she was frustrated because she assumed I was leaving.
As I sat down to enjoy the massive slice of cheesy goodness that is Costco Pizza, I felt no guilt at all, not in the slightest. And it warmed me inside to think that I was able to provide the wonderful gift of frustration and anger to someone who very obviously deserved it; or maybe that was the pizza....
So I wrapped up my shopping at Costco today (I love Costco!), wheeled out my groceries, and was thinking about a slice of the combo Costco pizza from the snack bar. Cruised over to the Element, opened the tailgate, and started putting my groceries in. About the third box in, I noticed her: the parking space stalker. Dumpy, mid-fifties, dark glasses, turquoise Ponitac, stopped in the middle of the lot, scanning for a spot. Normally, me being the friendly guy I am, I'll let a person know if I'm not leaving- maybe staying for a slice of pizza, who knows? But when I looked up, she didn't acknowledge me in the slightest, nothing even resembling a nod, or "Hi, are you leaving?". Instead, she had her nose buried in some colorful-looking mail (I knew it was mail, I saw the open envelope in her hand).
I finished putting my groceries away, shut the gate, then pushed my cart over to the cart "corral". I turned around, walked past my car, and back to Costco and my lunch. I look both ways before crossing the busy driveway, as I've been taught (and as I taught my son), and turn my head just as the lot stalker roars past; she glares at me through an open window, then yells "Asshole!" as she drives off.
Nice. So I'm an asshole for not giving her my spot? Maybe I'm an asshole for letting her wait, then not giving her my spot. But then I realize, it's not me that's the asshole, she is! For assuming that I was leaving, for assuming prematurely that she had ownership of that space, for not letting me know she wanted "my" spot (and assuming that I was going to give it to her), and for yelling "asshole" at a complete stranger because she was frustrated because she assumed I was leaving.
As I sat down to enjoy the massive slice of cheesy goodness that is Costco Pizza, I felt no guilt at all, not in the slightest. And it warmed me inside to think that I was able to provide the wonderful gift of frustration and anger to someone who very obviously deserved it; or maybe that was the pizza....
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