Pet Peeve...

I'm a pretty sarcastic guy. A lot of things that others may not notice cheese me off enough to send me into a Seinfeld-style rant leaving my family rolling their eyes and finding reasons to leave the room.

Because of this I have developed a list of pet peeves. They range from restaurant situations, to the unpredictable nature of other drivers, to words themselves.

Today I'd like to focus on one particular pet peeve that really rattles me, and it happens at the supermarket.

Despite the fact that I'm sarcastic, I'm also pretty friendly. I don't usually mind when the clerk ringing up my purchases tries to strike up a conversation. Even if I'm not in the mood, I'll at least be pleasant....but it's when that clerk comments on what I'm BUYING that really puts a tack in my chair.

Now don't get me wrong. I've had a few clerks honestly ask my opinion of a product because they had been curious about it themselves....that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about comments like "wow, you must really like this stuff."... or, "who buys these?!"..

Sometimes I take my sons to a small store in town to get some candy, just for the heck of it, and it's there I get "wow! You guys going to the movies or something?"

Usually these comments come when there are about 4,000 people directly behind me waiting to be checked out and are delivered by clerks who, judging by the volume of their voices, MUST be hard of hearing.

My youngest has an allergy to milk, so we have to buy him rice milk as that's all he can tolerate. Usually I buy them a few at a time so they'll last.

One evening when I was purchasing a few of the cartons, a teenage clerk looked at them, and then me and said "geez..you like this stuff or what?". To which I replied "it's for my son. He's allergic to regular milk."

Her voice took a 'been there, done that' tone as she began to tell me about all the people she'd known with lactose intolerance.

By this time I was pretty annoyed, so I actually interrupted her and said "My son isn't lactose intolerant. He's allergic. If he drinks cow's milk, his throat will swell shut until he can't breathe and he'll die."

A bit harsh maybe, but like I said....it's my pet peeve, and it was a bad day.

Just once I'd like to be able to buy whatever I want without being given a guilt trip, laughed at, or embarrassed by a clerk who can't mind their own business.

I don't care if I come thru a check out line with panty hose, a monkey wrench, a live chicken and a box of condoms....I should be able to do so without verbal affirmation that I'm a weirdo.

Just sayin.....

Brett