Friday, April 16, 2010

So, I Was In Michael's...

I went to Michael's today. Nothing out of the ordinary. I always have a list. Always a mile long.
Usually shopping for supplies for our church and/or my business.
I had the list in my hand and grabbed a shopping cart.

Halfway through the store, I spot this lady and her daughter (that I had to guess was probably about 9 years old). They are both sprawled out on the floor near a clearance rack. Two large baskets of discounted beads dumped all over the floor. Their shopping cart was in the middle of the aisle.

The lady loudly tells everyone who will listen how wonderful the beads are and how great they'll be for her daughter's party.

I walk up to the clearance rack and park my cart next to hers. I walk over to the other side of the rack, trying to take a peak at the other deals. I love a good bargain, you know...

"Don't worry, we're gonna clean this up," she says to me.

I responded with a smile and said, "Oh, you're fine."

I push the cart and walk off. I'm on the hunt for the things on my list and have a few other items pop into my head that didn't make it to paper. Must not forget those.

I walk about 4 aisles away and find what I'm looking for. I grabbed the items and when I look down, I see that the cart next to me isn't mine.

My cart is gone.

My cart with my purse in the seat, is gone.

I start to look around and think to myself, where is my cart? Someone switched carts on me. I didn't even notice. My purse is gone. Who took my cart? What's going on?

At the same time, I hear the lady's voice again,

"It's black and has a monogrammed D on the front."

An employee shows up at the end of the aisle and I say to her,

"Um, I have someone else's cart. This isn't mine. I can't find mine."

She says, "Your cart is over here (four aisles away) and you have hers."

Mortified, I push the cart to the lady. I laugh from embarrassment and start apologizing profusely...

"I am so sorry. I walked off with your cart accidentally. Remember me? I was just standing next to you? I thought someone switched my cart on me. I was confused there for a second. I'm so sorry."

Well, this woman falls on the floor and covers her face with her hands and starts yelling,

"OMG! (except she's yells the words-I don't like that), OMG! OMG! I can't believe this has happened, OMG!!"

She goes on and on and on. And on. I ended up walking away. Hoping that people weren't going to start running away from the "Cart Thief", I quickly finished my shopping. I felt like everyone was staring at me.

Then, I realized that I forgot something and I had to pass by her to get it. Great.

I see her and say with a smile,

"Again, I am so sorry. I was very distracted and didn't realize I walked off with the wrong cart."

She interrupts me and says, shaking her head and waving her hands in the air,

"It's over. It's over. Thank God it's over."

And now, this post is over.

But first, let me ask you.

Have you ever been so distracted that you walked off with the wrong cart. Am I the only one?

Break it to me gently.

8 comments:

  1. Not sure what justified her freakout. I do absentminded things like that all the time!

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  2. Nope! You are not the only one! I have done it before too! It's soooo embarrassing!

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  3. I think you encountered a little bit of crazy there! Honest mistake - I agree, not sure why she went so nuts. What a story!

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  4. I've done that more than once at the grocery, but never run into a "crazy" like that! I have started being VERY careful about never leaving my purse in the cart for even a second anywhere... in an instant someone can take it or take your $$$ out of it. I've even politely encouraged other shoppers to not do that at the grocery (usually older ladies, but all of us do it), because it only takes a nano second to have someone grab it. It's not too stylish, but I use a purse with a long adjustable shoulder strap & have it across my body so I have both hands free (had to do that with the hand surgery since I only had one functioning hand at a time...) What a story indeed!

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  5. What the heck??? Can you imagine that lady in the face of REAL adversity? Geez Louise!

    I never walked off with the wrong cart, but one time at Lowes, Jon went to return the cart to the store while I got Rebekah and Elijah in the car. When he returned, I said, "Where is Elliana?" His face went white and he ran back into the store.

    He returned the cart with her strapped in it, and left her there with all the carts.

    hee hee.

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  6. Oh Dove,

    It isn't you. She clearly has "issues".

    And if it makes you feel better....I have a white mini-van - the same one 85% of suburban mom everywhere owns.

    I have, more than once, gotten into the white minivan, or tried like crazy to figure out why the keyless remote didn't work...only to find out in wasn't mine!

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  7. I haven't done that with a cart but...One time I got in the wrong car...looked exactly like mine. I couldn't get the key to turn and was puzzled about that when my little girl said "my baby isn't here, someone stole strawberry shortcake" that's when I realized we were in the wrong car. I got out and looked around guiltily hoping no one had called the police about me stealing their car!

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  8. Can we say overreaction?? Wow that woman needs to calm down a bit.

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