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So I’m in the supermarket line with my basket of groceries.

The man in front of me unloads his basket, then dumps his plastic basket on top of the neat stack of other shopping baskets.

But instead of nesting it snugly within the other baskets, he just drops his basket on top, askew and cock-eyed, handles facing upward.
So I need to put my basket down to re-arrange his basket so I can set mine down inside and unload it.

This happens to me all the time.

Obviously he set his basket in there before me, and the person before him was kind (and smart) enough to do it properly.
Right?

Or…he had to adjust the others (like I’m gonna have to) and maybe afterwards, like any normal, thinking person who walks upright and not on all fours, do you think he might realize…
Gee, wouldn’t it be nice of me to stack my basket properly for the next person, not like that idiot in front of me?

Are you one of those people that just drops their shopping basket wherever they want and doesn’t think about the person behind them?

Are you?

If so, cut it out.

Especially if I’m in line behind you.

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6 comments

    • Alisa

    The chances that one of “those” people would be reading your blog, are slim. They are that small segment of the french population that hold up the snotty french attitude thing. There aren’t many of them, but it doesn’t take many….you know one bad apple can spoil the whole lot, girl (insert Michael Jackson squeal) I have had personal experience with this – I now make eye contact, and say merci beaucoup, with a raised eyebrow and grimaced upper lip. It helps.
    schmucks.

    • Amy

    I would have picked a fight with him, but that’s just me!

    • Cathy

    Hi David – I’ve been lurking for quite some time and I just love your blog. It’s so funny that you should post about this – I thought it was just me (and I don’t live in France). Almost every single time I go through a grocery line, I end up straightening out a whole pile of baskets that are all askew. I always worried that someone observing me might think I was obsessive compulsive or something, but it never occurred to me… it’s them! I’m OK, it’s the nitwits that can’t spare two seconds to properly nest their baskets that have a problem! I feel so much better now.

    • Michele

    Ok YES! This happens to me all the time. But more than that, I love the fact that you used the word Knuckleheads.. My dad used to call my brother and I that when we were kids. At first when i saw your title I thought perhaps there was some strange food that I had never realized existed :)

    • David

    It’s not just a French problem (especially since I can’t find the word ‘knucklehead’ in my French dictionary…)

    I remember in my local Safeway in San Francisco, the same thing happening over and over again.

    The difference between confrontations in France vs America, is in France, you’re likely to get a scolding. In the US, you’re likely to get shot.

    • jess

    In our little town, they don’t actually have a stack of baskets anywhere near the checkout- so- what’s a sensible person supposed to do with that basket(aside from run across the store and hope that the checker doesn’t total the bill before you get back, in case there’s a French guy behind you…)?

A

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