The way I see it, you have three options when interacting with someone:
· You can try to make their day better,
· take a neutral approach, or
· you can intentionally set out to make it worse.
I probably have a reputation on here for being a complaintive, bitchy, judgmental, easily-annoyed hater, but I like to vent and get over things via self-deprecating humor.
So as far as those three options, I try really fucking hard never to do the third one, even if someone is being a huge asshole and kinda deserves it.
I had a really shitty day, and I also had a really shitty week.
I was halfway home from the grocery store before I noticed something was stuck under my windshield wiper.
The rest of the drive home, all I could make out was the word “idiot.”
The Lacey Fred Meyer parking lot is an unmitigated disaster (IYKYK). It resembles something you would encounter wandering through the wasteland in the Fallout video game series.
And this is because Kroger would rather pay for several local cops to patrol the aisles of their store in a lame attempt to curtail shoplifting than spend the money to restripe their parking lot.
I know this because not only is it common knowledge among the people who live here, but also because it happened to me recently when I went inside and kept my big winter coat on.
They eventually stopped following me after I put a carton of 18 eggs in my basket, so I can only assume they figured I was rich if I was buying that many eggs and therefore had no need to steal anything.
So I parked close to the door and the spot did seem just a little more narrow than usual, but there were no signs, no rails, no nothing.
I know, I made sure to check.
I’m not some jerk who just parks whenever the fuck they want. When I got out, I looked down at the lines. Other than the barely visible stripes separating the spots, there was nothing. If anything ever was there, it was long gone.
So yeah, I must have made a mistake and parked somewhere I shouldn’t have, and I do feel bad about that, especially thinking about how I may have made it harder on someone with mobility issues. I honestly didn’t know and it looked like a spot.
But someone clearly needed to call me a selfish idiot today in order to feel better about themselves. And that’s fine.
On the way to the store I took the wrong exit off the freeway.
I think it was because I was following a Suburban with a bunch of adorable doggos in the back who were poking their good boy noses out the open window to take in all the yummy sniffs.
Gonna try to hold onto that feeling and remember those doggos.
—emily duchaine
Flommist Emily Duchaine lives in the Pacific Northwest. She likes to drink mead, learn about sharks, and listen to the Talking Heads. She pretends to be a professional businesswoman most days. Copyright © 2023 Emily Duchaine.
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