Day 190 - A resilient old woman

I was standing in line at the pet store waiting for my turn to pay for some cat food and kitty litter, and was halfway through daydreaming about yum cha that we were soon going to have for lunch when I heard a scruffy voice bellow "Hey! There's a line here and you've cut in front of me!".

I looked over and there stood a burly man with anger written all across the lines on his face, next to a white-haired woman who looked to be in her early 70s. She was standing in front of the cash register.

"Get back in line!" he continued to yell at her.

Seemingly a little startled, she said, "I'm sorry I didn't see you there. I didn't see the line."
What he said next caused me (and several onlookers) to raise my eyebrows. "Well you should open your fucking eyes and look properly then! You can't just do whatever you want."

The old woman barely batted an eyelash. "I already said I was sorry."


"Yeah whatever. Fuck you."

I must have gasped aloud. There were stunned faces all around.

The man charged to counter and paid for his bag of pig ears, all the while still swearing at the poor old woman. What a crazy dude. He seemed high off his face. On his way out of the store, the profanities kept coming. "Stupid blind old fuck, fuck you! Fuck you!"

Then the commotion started. "Oh my gosh did you see that?!" "Are you okay? What a psycho!" "What a terrible man!"

The old woman seemed unfazed and just laughed. "I can still hear him swearing down the street! He must not be having a good day."

And that was it! She simply shrugged and laughed it off. It's easy to get upset, not so easy to forgive and move on. After I paid for my goods, I smiled at her and told her that I wished everyone else would be a lot more polite to her for the rest of the day. She smiled back, put her hand on my arm and said thank you.