On December 23rd, sometime around 11pm, Eric and I were in Wal-Mart picking up a few last minute Christmas items. The store was still full and only a few registers were open, so the lines at the express check-out lanes were long – to say the least.
We got in line and waited some time when the cashier in the line next to us turned his light off and told the people in his line that he would take the next couple of customers, but that the other customers would need to find a different line.
Almost everyone would agree that it is terribly annoying to wait in line only to find out that you have to start over in another line, but I was aghast at the response from a particular lady in his line. She did not yell at him, but she did ask him who would be the one help her so that she did not have to start over in the back of a line. He politely directed her to a different line, but he was not able to boot other people out of their lines to make room for her and her superior attitude.
After a few attempts to have him fix the “problem,” she looked at him and said, “And THAT is why you’re employed at Wal-Mart!” Her tone was demeaning and arrogant. Up until her little high and mighty stuck up moment, I would have let her in front of me in our line; however, after hearing her talk to him that way, I inched my cart up as far as it would go without hitting the person in front of me.
The people behind me were more gracious than I (or perhaps they were wimps) and they let her in line behind us… so I had the pleasure of continuing to listen to her mouth. After a minute or so had passed, she started talking to her original cashier again, giving him pointers on how he could’ve handled the situation better and then still proceeded to insult the fact that he worked at Wal-Mart. Then she said loudly enough that we could all hear her, “I’m not bitter all the time… just today!”
In my experience, I’ve found that people who declare that they are “not always like this” usually are often like this. As we were leaving the store, I couldn’t help but notice a man shopping with her. While they may have been married, they did not give off the vibe of a married couple. He was grinning from ear to ear as if she had just done the funniest thing ever while insulting the cashier. While I question his character for thinking that insulting a Wal-Mart employee was funny, I also question his common sense for wanting to be with such a woman.
He may love her spunky personality and he may love the way she stands up for herself, but I have news for him: if she’s spunky and demeaning to a cashier, she’ll be spunky and demeaning to her husband – and if she stands up for herself loudly in public (otherwise known as thinking she’s better than everyone else and demanding her own way), then she will do the same in her marriage. When Eric and I were discussing it later, Eric wondered if she was so important, why she was even shopping at Wal-Mart.
At the time, I felt so sorry for the cashier. Here it was, the eve of Christmas Eve, he’s working an honest job, and some jerk he’s never met has the nerve to question his intelligence and competence in front of the Wal-Mart Christmas mob.
Then, I started feeling sorrier for the bitter lady herself and the man in her life. The cashier likely went home, shook it off, laughed about her with his family, and proceeded to have a good Christmas. This lady and her man, on the other hand, are probably looking at some hard times ahead. Anyone who is that stuck on themselves is in for a rude awakening including anyone who tries to live with them. They are in for a bumpy ride.
It is easy to be attracted to people who are loud and seemingly fun; but, when you see them publicly insult someone, ask yourself, “Could I live with someone bitter who did that to me? Could I handle it if they treated me that way in front of others?”
If she had the ability and audacity to treat a stranger like dirt, it will take no effort or energy for her to do that and more to someone she knows well. Notice how your future spouse treats people when he or she is tired or stressed. It will tell you something about how you can expect to be treated in marriage.
How does your significant other treat other people?
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