What would you have done??
By sudalunts
@sudalunts (5523)
United States
November 22, 2008 4:40pm CST
I was in the grocery store yesterday. I noticed a lady that looked familiar, but I was not sure I really knew her. She was short and very heavy with a red wig and a hat on. She was reaching for a box of stuffing mix from the display at the front of the store. Well, she must have tried to get a box from the back and at least twenty boxes of stuffing mix fell to the floor. She looked at me, I looked at her, and she took her cart and proceeded to go down another aisle.
I thought that was so rude of her not to pick up the mess she created. I then picked up the boxes and put them back on the shelf.
when I left the store she was outside, and asked me if I had attended a certain high school, I said yes I did, she happened to be a classmate of mine, who I haven't seen in at least fifteen years.
I didn't say anything about the stuffing disaster. what would you have done?
7 people like this
20 responses
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
23 Nov 08
What on earth does knocking over some stuffing mix boxes have to do with having gone to high school together. That is sometimes the job of the staff to clean up messes. I agree it was not the best of manners but would you have reacted differently if she had not knocked over the stuffing? I would have dismissed the stuffing incident and had a chat.
3 people like this
@dxfanatic69 (378)
• United States
22 Nov 08
Wow, well goes to show that some of your classmates just will stay the same, in their age mentality!
I, because I'm so confrontational and forward :), would have jokingly brought it up, saying something like "hey, so you're still pulling high school pranks at your age, huh?" - like she meant to knock those boxes over...
And as far as the situation in the grocery store, I would have been the better person and picked up the boxes, preferably while she was looking at you, so she could see that she clearly did not do the right thing.
@dxfanatic69 (378)
• United States
22 Nov 08
If I can add on, also take in to consideration that some people might have been too embarassed to pick up the boxes, so just for consideration...
But mainly you should own up for your actions and clean up after yourself...
2 people like this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
23 Nov 08
i guess i would do the same as u did unless i was in one of my moods.lol then i probably would have told i cleaned up the mess she made. that is so tacky to do that. i'm always picking up something in the aisles. another one of my gripes is people who decide they don't want something & stick it in the freezers whether it's soppose to be frozen or not. that is pure laziness not to put it back where u got it.
1 person likes this
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
23 Nov 08
There are also the people who put stuff that should be refrigerated on the shelf to spoil, instead of taking it back to the refrigerated aisle.
1 person likes this
@jiffin4java (97)
• United States
22 Nov 08
I would've responded exactly the way you did. She was probably embarrased. She probably wasn't trying to be rude. You were right not to mention it and embarrass her further and very kind to clean up the mess rather than leave it for an employee. Kudos to you!
1 person likes this
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
23 Nov 08
I guess that is a pet peeve of mine, any time I see something on the floor at the supemarket, I will pick it up and put it on the shelf. It's no biggie to me. I did not think it was worth mentioning it to her, she knows what she did, and it was over and done with.
@ahmedafaque (161)
• India
23 Nov 08
ya its good to see someone of our class after a long time.And i would have done the same as you have done.I wouldnt have mentioned that because after a long time we met and I dont want to make that a bad one .and i think i can do that much for a friend.
happy mylotting and have a nice time.
2 people like this
@Elvali (68)
• China
23 Nov 08
Well,if I were you,I may do most of what you did,but I would also say something or do something that could let her realise her rudeness,of course in a humorous way.Since you are former classmates,it is not so embarrassed for you in this situation.But it depends on the way you say it that may not hurt her.
2 people like this
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
22 Nov 08
Well I would certainly have told her I fixed things up for her..I would not have just let that ride, maybe she was embarrassed about what she did but she could have at least told someone in the store that it was an accisent and that she was sorry...
@jiffin4java (97)
• United States
22 Nov 08
Yes, she should have said something, but she didn't and you wouldn't want to make a situation worse by making her feel worse than she probably already did. It's not a huge deal. You or I probably would've just cleaned up our mess and not thought twice about it. But other people get embarrased easily. She was either mortified or she didn't care. Either way, it doesn't matter...it's just stuffing...it's not a crime.
1 person likes this
@CinderInMySoul (4717)
• United States
23 Nov 08
when the boxes fell i probably would have looked at her and started laughing, then helped her pick them up..course if she just took off i would have said "DONT WORRY ILL GET THAT FOR YOU!" and then picked it up. lol!
i guess if i ran into her in the parking lot and she didnt say anything...not even a "thankyou" for having picked up her mess i would have just said "yeah i went to that school...sorry i cant talk now running late". i mean YOU helped her and she didnt even say "thankyou, i was so embarrassed i just took off!"
she could have at least said thankyou..and then moved onto talking about school..but not saying anything of the sort is really RUDE!
1 person likes this
@mssnow (9484)
• United States
22 Nov 08
I probably would have done teh same as you. either picked them up or at least told an emplyee. But when i went outside and talked with her I might have mentioned that I had picked up the stuffing boxes for her. see if she had any kind of reaction.
@LilyoftheThorns (12918)
• United States
23 Nov 08
Well if I was her I would have defeniatly picked up after myself, I mean honestly--it isn't that hard! lol. It was really nice of you to pick it up, I would have done the same thing if I saw someone make a mess and leave it.
But I think you did the right thing not mentioning it to her in the parking lot. It would have just made the situation akward and it could bring up an unnecessary arguement.
@3cardmonte (5098)
•
23 Nov 08
God I hate it when people dont clean up their mess. I would have picked up the boxes and told her off.
@jambi462 (4576)
• United States
22 Nov 08
Wow that's a rather odd situation indeed. I mean sure its cool that you were in the same high school together but that doesn't give her an excuse to make a huge mess everywhere. I think you did the right thing though in picking it up. If you didn't some young kid that probably gets paid crap would of had to do. Good job spreading the good deeds at least.
1 person likes this
@burnek (101)
• Philippines
23 Nov 08
Umm, she must've been having a bad day. I would've picked up the boxes and put it back on the shelf just like you did. It's really no big deal. And as you said she looked kinda familiar but wasn't sure. It wouldn't hurt a bit to let your good judgement take control. Any confrontation about anything of no importance is no good. Its just dropped boxes anyway. She must have been in a hurry. And what a way to meet an old acquaintance. And if I may return the question to you, What would you think would happen if you confronted her about it? not nice scenario isn't it? :) peace...
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
23 Nov 08
Not quite sure what would have happened had I asked her about the boxes. It really was no biggie, I just thought it was strange that she did not even pick up one box. But I wouldn't have made a big deal over it, because it was done and over with.
@jupiterchild (8)
• United States
23 Nov 08
I would have said "Do you want a hand with that?" or something. I probably would have said something less polite if it was a complete stranger. It was good though, not to have mentioned the stuffing thing when you talked to her outside.
@mansha (6298)
• India
23 Nov 08
You did thwe right thing by walking awaywithout mentioning anything about the incident. it was no big thing and i am sure she must have sen you picking up those packets and may eb next time she will not pass by without doing the same thing. Some people just are too ambarrassed and just want to run from the situation. I feel thats why she waited for you deliberately may be thinking of thanking you but didn't have the guts to do so. Watch out for her next time I hope you will be pleasently surprised.
@checapricorn (16061)
• United States
23 Nov 08
[i]Hi sudalunts,
wow..if I am in that situation and I am running out of time, I will not pick up those things for her but if I have all the time, like you I will try to put them back to the shelves!
I haven't tried seeing people so far leaving things out of order when they mess it up accidentally![/i]
@onemanshow (189)
• India
23 Nov 08
well if she would have been by good freind than after talking about our old talks and how we are presently settled in our lives and what are we doing and which high school we had opted so after getting mixed up i would have surely asked her for her strange behaviour and if i would have asked her directly than it i would have not got a good response as in latter talk
@chasingsunlight (261)
• United States
23 Nov 08
I hate confrontation. So, I definitely would not have said anything. It wasn't worth fighting with her over stuffing.
@ShortyAkbar (384)
• United States
22 Nov 08
I wouldn't have said anything about her knocking over the boxes. I knock over stuff in stores all the time and just leave it. It's the people in the store's problem anyway. It makes them earn their paycheck and gives them something to do. And I definitely wouldn't have picked them up for someone else who knocked them down.
@UK_Shree (3603)
•
23 Nov 08
I think I would have ignored the situation completely. And I certainly would not have picked it up after her. At most If I happened to pass someone who worked in the store I would have alerted their attention to it. In addition, I don't think I would have mentioned it to the woman, but I might've been annoyed when speaking to her. I suppose it is difficult to predict unless you are in that situation.
