Sam's Club woman

The following story is true. It happened yesterday morning.

We have a snack locker at work. I buy stuff at Sam’s Club to supply the locker. Every week I change the combination on the lock and charge people $5 for the combination. So, employees buy a week’s access to the snack locker for five dollars. This keeps my costs down, but I’m still losing money. Yesterday was the first opportunity I had to swing by Sam’s and buy more supplies.

I was in line at Sam’s club at 9:45. I know this, because I looked at my watch when a little red-headed lady got out of line, left her things with the cashier, and headed to the back of the store. I stood there for about five minutes with the cashier and the lady in line behind me. I didn’t have to be at work until 10:30, so I wasn’t in a hurry. The lady returned, apologized to the cashier, and left. There was no confrontation, no real embarrassment, and nobody even so much as sighed impatiently.

It took all of about thirty seconds for me to check out, so I was just-about on the heals of the red-headed lady as I approached my vehicle. Let me paint a picture. Her pickup was parked head-in the same as my Ford Escape, and they were side-by-side. She had opened the back door on her truck, then got her cart, and started pulling it from the front between the two vehicles. There was not enough room. The cart was squeezed from both sides, her fender on one, and mine on the other. She continued to yank on the cart, despite the fact that it was scraping down the side of my car. Before you gasp too hard, I have plastic fenders on my Escape, so it wasn’t doing much harm. However, there would have been no backing out of the spot once she got the cart jammed in there. Also, even though they’re plastic, they’re still MINE and she was scraping them.

Me: You’re scraping my fender.
Her: Well, I’m trying to get to my car.
Me: But, you’re scraping my fender.
Her: Well, you parked too close!
Me: No, ma’am, I did not. I am well within my lines and I’m farther away from the line than you are.
Her: FINE! You go ahead, I’ll wait for you! Go!
Me: Ok. You know, even if I’d parked too close, that doesn’t give you the right to damage someone else’s property.
Her: (unintelligible) Too big for this stuff (unintelligible) need to change (unintelligible).
Me: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Her: I don’t give a fuck!

At this point, I’m wondering what I’ve done to piss this woman off. I ran the events through my mind and the only thing was objecting to her scraping my car. I decided that she should not be allowed to think that this was OK. I stepped over to her, looked at my fender, then at her.

Me: Should I go ahead and call the police?
Her: (Look of shock)
Me: you’ve scratched my car, I think you should pay for the damages. You owe me a new fender. So, should I call the cops?
Her: (fear and worry) No. I’m sorry. OK? I’m sorry. Please do not do that. I’m sorry. Just . . . I’m sorry.

At this point, I wondered if I should press the advantage. I had her on the ropes. Whether she had a real reason to fear or not, the fact was she was visibly afraid that I would call the cops and that the result would be unpleasant. I had won, technically, but how to proceed from here? I stepped closer and looked her in the eye . . .

Me: Anger is a hot rock you hold in your hand to throw at someone else. You are the only one who gets burned. You’re having a bad day, and you almost ruined mine.
Her: I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Me: When you do something like this, it’s like ripples spreading out, making a bad day for everyone. I want you to have a good day. Now, you go have a good day, today, Ok?
Her: I’m sorry.

At this point, I opened my arms. She went right in for a hug.

I got in my car and left.