The Verbal Beatdown

There I was, in TJ Maxx, trying to find a pastel-colored polo shirt for Davis' spring school picture. I was at the end of the boy's rack, looking at the 4s. There was about 6 inches, then a cart, and a woman looking at the 6s. We were moving toward each other, but I thought there was plenty of room. And, I'll be honest, I thought the closer we got to each other, she would move her basket either on the other side of her or where it was pointing away from the rack we were looking at. Boy, was I wrong!

As we got closer to each other, she kept shoving the shirts in my direction. Should have been my first clue that she had issues. Also, she kept inching her cart right at me, to the point that I was leaning over her cart to continue looking. Again, being the person I am, I thought she would adjust the basket. No such luck. In fact, she ended up HITTING me with it. Now, it wasn't like she shoved me, but it was a little tap, either. I looked at her in disbelief and huffed, only slightly, which was less than I wanted to do.

That's when it started. It was awful. After she hit me with her cart and I looked at her,she started with "Oh no you don't! I was here FIRST!! You didn't even say excuse me!" At this point, she was merely yelling at me. Later it went to full-blown screaming. Anyway, after she said that to me, I replied with "There's plenty of room here for both of us. You could move your cart out of the way." Mistake. That's when she really took off, repeating what she had already said along with some comments about how rude I was and needed to step off. As she was screaming a few things happened. #1 She was still shoving her cart at me, forcing me almost into the clothes that were about 3 feet behind where I was to start with; #2 People were coming out of the woodwork to GAWK at us and enjoy some entertainment; #3 Her own son, who I think was about 2, started screaming and crying, begging his mom to stop. I did tell her I didn't think she was setting a good example to him, which I know wasn't the right thing to do. That made her scream louder AND drop the F-bomb. I am so glad my kids weren't with me.

Now, for those of you who know me, you are probably surprised to learn that I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, while this lunatic berated me at the top of her lungs. I felt limp and incapable of moving. So much for big, tough Sara! As I watched people coming out of the woodwork, not to help, but to watch, it made me a little scared. As my eyes darted from person to person, there was one woman, God bless her, who made eye contact with me and said "Come on." She just kept saying it and motioning to me until I finally got my legs moving and went to her. As we walked away, Whacko Lady dropped a few more F-bombs and continued to scream.

This woman walked with me to the register and I stood there, dumbfounded, shaking. She wanted to tell management, as the woman was still screaming at me from the boy's department. I asked her not to because I didn't want that lady coming after me physically! Obviously, we weren't dealing with a rational person! The nice lady agreed not to say something, but she just kept saying "That isn't right." It made me feel better.

The really funny part? Jasen was meeting me in the parking lot so I could get Grace from him. I called him from the car, crying hysterically. When my handsome prince showed up, he said "Where is she?" I told him she was still in the store and he headed that way. I told him not to be ridiculous. #1 He was in uniform and #2 This was the kind of woman who would call the cops on HIM for verbal assault/harassment if he dared to say anything to her. So we stood in the parking lot until I was calm. I think I shook for 30 minutes afterward.

Wish I could tell you what I learned from the event. In the end there are two things: Satan's attacks can be covert AND overt! And my mom is right: when a crazy person decides it's your day, there isn't much you can do about it!