She nailed my pet peeve with a sledge hammer (ranty and longish)

[Bented]

Quick recap: I work a few hours a week for my dad at his store, which, among other things, is a glorified newsstand.

It was a slow day, so I bought a copy of the local paper to read. I had the A section open when the SC came in.

This woman had a voice like a foghorn, which isn't sucky, even if she was ridiculously loud, but that kind of voice just stays with you. So if you can stand it, imagine her side in a crazy loud voice, because I don't want to type it in all caps.

She walked up and I moved the paper off to my right, still open to my page.

Me: What can I get for you?
SC: Is that today's paper?
Me: Thinking *holy crap! Did a fog bank just roll in, or do you not have an inside voice?*
Me: Yes ma'am, they're on the table right behind you...

The SC grabbed my paper, and started mangling it, crumpling the pages, and even tearing one, while flipping through it as fast as she could.

SC: There's a picture in here I want to see, that car crash from yesterday *flip, crumple, shred*
Me: Um, ma'am?
SC: *Finds the picture on the second page, and starts folding the paper into a square to highlight it, or something* See, isn't that just awful?

I wasn't sure how to react at that point, I think I was just stunned at the brazenness. She tossed the paper down, asked for a scratch off lottery ticket then left.

After she left, I unfolded my mangled paper and finished reading it, getting angrier at ever crumple I came across.

I know that it was a measly $.50 paper, pretty much meant to be thrown away when your done with it, but it was MY measly paper. If she wanted to shred one, she could have forked over two quarters for it, and then turned it into confetti for all I would care.

But the damage was just the irritation icing on the completely pissed off cake. What really got me was the fact that she saw me reading it, saw me purposely slide it off to one side with the paper open to the page I was reading, and still thought it was okay to start flipping through the paper.

I know it is only a couple of pages, but to me this is still on par with seeing someone's book on the counter and pulling the bookmark out so they lose their place. You don't mess with someone's reading material!

[Hyndis]

You should have charged her for the newspaper.

[bankworking]

Yeah, that one would have pissed me off too.

[Akasa]

I would have charged her for the paper as well.

[Anakah]

It'd be like opening up a cereal box so she could get the prize. I'd have charged her bitch ass too. THat was yours and I'd have been pissed also.

[Julesy]

WTF? How rude. Yes she should have been made to pay for the newspaper.

[stephenr]

If somebody had done that to me, I would have grabbed back the newspaper because that is beyond rude. Especially if I had paid for the newspaper already and someone just grabbed it from me to read it. What she did is essentially stealing as she stole the picture from the car crash in the paper you were reading.

[MoonCat]

Yes, definitely should have been charged for the paper! Charged twice even, once for the damage and once for the aggravation.

[chainedbarista]

charge her for the paper you bought, then give her a not so cordial invitation to leave...NOW.

[MrsEclipse]

Man, I'd be pissed. I'm incredibly territorial and defensive by nature. You know those dogs that growl when you even glance in the direction of their squeaky bone? That's me. I'd probably have bitten her.

Doesn't matter that it's a measly $.50 paper meant to be thrown away. That's mostly irrelevent. The important part is that she took something that was yours, damaged it, and strutted off. What chutzpah.

[Willis]

I can't even think about that SC now. I wouldn't have served her ass and sent her off to get her lotto scratch offs someplace else.

[Stryker One]

Sounds like a pretty clear case of "you broke it, you bought it".

[Bented]

I wish I had said something, or at least made her pay for the paper. But honestly, I was so shocked her casual assumption that it was okay to do something like that, that I froze.

[TheComputerError]

SC: There's a picture in here I want to see, that car crash from yesterday *flip, crumple, shred*
Me: Um, ma'am?
SC: *Finds the picture on the second page, and starts folding the paper into a square to highlight it, or something* See, isn't that just awful?

"The fact that you need to see the death and suffering of others and are compelled to violate the personal space of others to show them how despicable a person you are is indeed pretty awful."

[Kristev]

She's a two-year old in an adult body. And she should have paid for that paper.