"The UnInmate" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Paul M. Cook" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> If this isn't the most absurd situation I've seen
>>> in a checkout line, it's close. Maybe it ties with
>>> the kid who threw the phoniest temper tantrum I've
>>> ever seen in front of a doormat mother who obviously
>>> lost control of her kid when he was very young.
>>>
>>> There were two Chinese women in front of me, an
>>> elderly one and a middle-aged one. The younger one
>>> was translating for the older one, and as it turned
>>> out, she didn't know her. She just volunteered to
>>> translate, because the older woman didn't speak
>>> any English at all.
>>>
>>> As I stood there and learned more of the story,
>>> it appeared the older woman was trying to return
>>> a watch battery. She had the original packaging
>>> for the battery, and the watch that the battery
>>> was put into, but the problem was that the battery
>>> was inside the watch. Nobody knew how to get the
>>> battery out of the watch, and the clerk didn't want
>>> to give a refund without getting the battery back.
>>>
>>> Fortunately, the clerk rang up my bottle of beer
>>> and can of olives while the women were making their
>>> case for a refund. I don't know how it was resolved,
>>> but I did give the poor clerk a smile in sympathy
>>> with her dilemma.
>>
>> Standing in checkout lines seems to be getting worse all the time. I
>> have seen stuff like this where a person holds up a line forever with
>> endless demands from the clerk. I wonder sometimes if this isn't the
>> only attention they ever get in their lives.
>
> It's childish to jump to the conclusion that anyone who "kicks up a fuss"
> is "just looking for attention." It's simplistic even when applied to the
> behaviour of most children. What it's motivated by is self-centredness on
> the part of the person *speaking*, not the person "looking for attention;
> because the person speaking only sees the way someone else is affecting
> him, which is to inconvenience him, and gives no thought to what the other
> person's situation or perspective might be. I find if you bother to take
> the slightest interest in people, their behaviour often makes sense.

So you're saying my desire to choke the living shit out of them is
inappropriate?

Paul

>