grumpy old man goes shopping

[infinitemonkies]

Here's a twist on the common time-management bitching we're all used to from SCs:

I work the night shift. I get off at 7:30am. I decide to grab some groceries on my way home. I pull upto the grocery store at about 10 to 8. They don't open until 8. I'm used to this, it's an occupational hazard when you work the graveyard shift. I prepare to wait a few minutes.

Grumpy Old Man doesn't see things my way. He wanders up to the doors just as I'm locking up my bike. The doors don't open, since they're locked, since the store is closed. GOM pounds on the door. he looks at his watch, and screams out "It's 7:55!" (Note, it was in fact 7:51)

GOM proceeds to press his face against the glass, such that his eyeballs are rubbing up against the part of the sign that reads "Open at 8a.m." He proceeds to pound on and kick the door for 3 minutes until someone comes and unlocks it.

Note that: A) He spent a total of 3 minutes waiting, and B) the store in fact opened 6 minutes early.

GOM corners the manager and yells obsenities for being made to wait. I go grab my groceries.

15 minutes later, I'm checking out, and GOM is STILL berating the poor manager. That's right, he spent a minimum of 15 minutes complaining about having to wait 3 minutes because he was too early, despite the fact they opened early just for him anyway.

[sms001]

And sadly, having this pointed out to him would do absolutely NOTHING. But he's really 'trading' his time for the opportunity for drama and righteous indignation which he probably thinks is worth it. Too bad his victim can't get away.

[LillFilly]

Bah, they should have made him wait. I do, as it is really a safety and liability issue for people to be let in early unless they work there. What if he'd slipped on something that needed those last few minutes to dry. He'd be suing faster than you can say "Change My Depends!"

[BookstoreEscapee]

People like that made me wait until about half a minute after opening to actually open the door. If you're going to bang on the door I'm going to ignore you.

I once had a woman bitching at me through the gate between Store1 and Starbucks, where she was waiting for us to open (SB rents the space from the Store and opens earlier). She was going on about how she was in a hurry and had to pick up a book and get to work and she'd been waiting 15 minutes already (not my fault you got here at 8:45 when you know we open at 9). I didn't have the key to the gate, and I told her I had to wait for the manager to come open it, but that the front door was open and she could walk around (a whole 30 feet or so). She waited until the gate opened, I gave her the book from the hold shelf, and she wandered off into the store with it. Half and hour later I saw her leaving and she never even bought the book.

[HeatherWolf]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Don't expect us to open early just because you're standing outside waiting, and act like it's OUR fault because you go there early, and ran out of patience.

[An Haddock]

Grumpy Old Man doesn't see things my way. He wanders up to the doors just as I'm locking up my bike. The doors don't open, since they're locked, since the store is closed. GOM pounds on the door. he looks at his watch, and screams out "It's 7:55!" (Note, it was in fact 7:51)

GOM proceeds to press his face against the glass, such that his eyeballs are rubbing up against the part of the sign that reads "Open at 8a.m." He proceeds to pound on and kick the door for 3 minutes until someone comes and unlocks it.

Ugh. I thought older people were supposed to be more patient than younger people, no?

I'd have said something to the guy... at least to give the manager a breather. "Oh my god - you had to wait a whole five minutes for the store to open! They should make it a 24-hour establishment JUST FOR YOU!"

Or something. It's been a long week and I'm not feeling very clever.