Day 17 - Right of Way

When I went to the grocery store today, I only needed one item, so instead of joining the flowing mass of customers heading straight back toward the produce, I rebelled and cut across the front of the store near the cash registers. An oncoming woman with a full grocery cart turned her cart directly in front of me, looked at me as if startled, and stopped. Then she glared at me and continued to get into line, clearing up the path in front of me. So I had to wonder, who had the right of way in this situation? Generally, when walking, I assume that standard driving rules apply, and that I have a right to be offended and judgmental when others do not follow these guidelines. We walk on the right-hand side of the aisle or hallway, and if we are turning, we don't do it in front of people lest they walk into us. But she had clearly been thrown by my presence there. Did not following standard produce-first grocery protocol equate to something akin to turning the wrong way down a one-way street? The area in which I was walking was clearly wide enough for bi-directional walking, but was I the only one daft enough to think that roominess equals justifiability?


I decided to experiment a little bit with my new-found grocery etiquette knowledge, and walked directly to the back of the store. I then walked the exact opposite direction down the back of the store, and up the front again. Luckily, I escaped without injury. I am, however, slightly concerned with my right to shop in that store again. I have also begun to question the validity of motor-powered shopping carts.

Clearly, there are exceptions to the 'walk like you are driving' scenario I so wrongly assumed we all follow. But then, I should have recognized the signs long ago. After all, in my past I have fallen victim to those people who congregate in a hallway and refuse to move no matter what is coming toward them. I have seen first-hand the tendency of two people walking side-by-side refuse hallway passage to the person walking solo in the opposite direction. And then there are the doorway lingerers...those seemingly destination-bound people who suddenly find themselves unable to continue through a doorway due to the massively important realization that they may not actually need to go in that direction after all. And, of course, the door lingerers are usually spotted by the people who already are, or desire to be, the people who congregate in the hallway. In the end, I suppose it isn't any wonder that these people who do not know how to walk down a hallway and through a door become confused and territorial when trying to navigate the complexity of a supermarket.