In the grocery store yesterday,

[Fla Dem]

As I was nearing the end of the frozen food aisle, which had on one end the fresh flower arrangement area, a young good looking guy, pushing his cart and on his phone started down the aisle in the wrong direction. I told him, "you're going the wrong way". He immediately looked at the end of the aisle and saw the big X and said "Oops, sorry" turned around and headed for the next aisle.

I was a bit surprised at his reaction, thinking he'd either ignore me or tell me to MYOB, or some other negative comeback. So was pleased it turned out the way it did. Then to my surprise an older, male store employee approached and handed me a carnation, saying "thank you for telling him he was going the wrong way". Entirely made my day!

[sheshe2]

1. K&R

[louis-t]

2. I find most around here are being nice about it.

98% compliance, I would say. Go into a store, everyone is nervously looking around. If someone gets too antsy and bolts for the door (me) because there are too many people waiting, you might hear a knowing chuckle. There are still a few that refuse to wear masks, but I have seen no trouble yet.

[Star-Thrower]

11. Blue in Red state

Still too many not wearing masks in supermarkets and convenience stores. I was at a BiLo store looking to buy some beer. Further on down the aisle was a woman dressed in black looking like she was doing inventory stuff. I was facing her and she was facing the beer shelves. Then she did the unthinkable! She actually sneezed, no mask, no kleenex nothing! Shocked I went to customer service and asked for a manager, a asked about what and I explained the woman and described her. He saw her and asked me if she was the person. I replied yes and he said: "she is the manager." I was like totally floored!

[rzemanfl]

3. I am still getting the hang of this stuff, like getting my temperature taken at

the library. Yesterday I had to go to the UPS store to return an ill-advised Amazon purchase. Ahead of me in the socially distanced line there was a woman with a large parcel (I thought of another word first-but no). When she had to open the door it was all I could do to keep myself from rushing up to help her with the door.

[underpants]

4. Nice

I was in a Publix yesterday and realized I was going the wrong way in the cookie aisle.

[customerserviceguy]

5. That's one of the reasons

that I don't shop at Publix, making me go around in a circle just to get something five feet from the end cap. Not so much a problem for me, but to an older person with mobility issues, it has to be painful.

[onethatcares]

8. I think

you can say three mea culpas and 8 whatevers and grab anything within 5 feet of the main aisles.

Not busting your butt, but come on man or ma'am.

Or, Ask the older person, hell that could be me, what kind of cookies do I want. Or say, "Hey, do you mind if I walk and talk with you?"

Ya never know where that can lead.

[onethatcares]

7. but, what a mistake it was

commercial or Publix bakery cookies?

[underpants]

20. Chips a hoy

Needed my chocolate chip cookies

[zanana1]

21. You can't go wrong in the cookie aisle.

[cwydro]

23. My Publix is really good with their signs, but I frequently miss the Food Lion signs.

Anyhow, ANY way in the cookie aisle is the wrong way for me lol!

[James48]

6. Always assume good intent.

That’s a good place to start from.

I have found myself going against the arrows in the grocery store- simply because I failed to see them until I was already a third of the way down the aisle.

Oops- sorry, I didn’t mean to! Good words you will find more often than “leave me alone”.

[Fla Dem]

19. Sure, I do too and as soon as I realize I correct myself.

Also, can’t tell you how many times I get to a store door and realized I left my mask in the car and have to go back for it,

I live in a very red district in FL. No store requires a mask. Less than 50% of customers wear them, my unscientific estimation. The few times I have said to someone they’re going the wrong way, I got a dirty look or was completely ignored.

My post was meant to be positive and upbeat. First the young fellow reacted very favorably and 2nd, getting the thank you from the store employee and the carnation was icing on the cake.

[DFW]

9. Lucky you! On Friday (Monday was a holiday here) my wife had the opposite experience

She was going into an OBI (outdoor hardware/garden supply store) market, when some 30-something pushed her out of the way, no mask (it's required here), and barged on in to the store without even looking back. The security guy at the entrance offered his sympathy, but said he had to contend with this all day long, and he had to watch it, because one wrong word or gesture, and HE would be the one to lose his job (damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't say/do something). He isn't even allowed to sit down unless on lunch break, and said if he could find ANY other job at the moment, he would take it in an instant.

[RainCaster]

10. It happens to me as well, we're all still learning

I've been correcting others in the stores, too. Most are embarrassed by their faux pas.

[yaesu]

12. That is so cool, they aren't obeying any of my Governors orders here, I was the only one

wearing a mask when I went shopping Sunday. Didn't buy all I wanted, got they hell out as fast as I could.

[Orrex]

13. Encouraging!

When I spot someone wrong-waying it, I usually make a light comment like "if they catch you, they'll throw you in grocery jail," and that statement is sufficiently that it doesn't come across as a hostile challenge.

Still get one or two jackasses, but on balance people have been pretty cool.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I'm still getting delivery. It has gotten a lot easier - it was rough going there for a while - and

it eliminates a lot of stress. Also, I don't have a car, so the delivery fee is cheaper than having to take an Uber/Lyft back from the store with all my bags and it makes sense for me.

They leave the bags on a table down in our lobby so I don't have any direct contact w/ the delivery person and I don't have to deal with other customers. It's very convenient.

Once things get back to normal, I may want to go to the store in person for things like produce and certain specialty items, but I will probably still continue to get staples delivered. It's just so much easier.

[Warpy]

15. Most people out there are good people

whatever bullshit they believe.

The true assholes are starting to stand out rather obviously.

[Fla Dem]

22. I live in a "vacation" area on Florida's east coast. So not only do we have to deal

with the permanent residents of whom almost 70% are registered Republicans, but also the vacationers who come here and have no respect for anything.

[Warpy]

25. My dad retired there

and for the first 25 years, they were within a bike ride of an unspoiled beach, nothing much there but a couple of motels, some houses on streets away from the beach, an old pier. There was a nice nature walk through a swampy part, also.

Right after he died, I went to that beach to dip a toe in the Atlantic for the last time. Oh, what Jebbie's friends had done, it was a solid wall of condos and their parking structures, you couldn't get to the beach, there were no walkways left. The nature walk was gone, the swamp drained, and you guessed it, another condo building.

It had only been 5 years or so since my last long walk on that beach. Rage and disgust were in equal measures that day.

So I know that area pretty well, saw the space shuttle lift off from his front yard, listened to a lot of his neighbors. He couldn't understand why I didn't move there when I left Boston. To him it was paradies. To me, it was pure hell.

That wall of condos will get rickety and the beach will be completely gone within 50 years. The only way to keep a beach is to keep it unspoiled.

[Sophiedillo]

16. In my grocery store the other day...

Big sign in the front: No entrance without a mask

Inside the store: I complained to the store manager that my cashier was not wearing her mask. The manager told me that wearing a mask causes carbon dioxide poisoning. And then I was called "Karen." Grrrr.

[Fla Dem]

17. Whaaat?!?!?! Sign says you have to wear a mask. Manager says "no way".

If this is a major chain, I’d let the Corporate office know. Not so much about the mask, but that he was rude to you.

[tanyev]

18. I totally messed that up the first week my Tom Thumb did one way aisles.

Made it all the way through the store and finally noticed it when I went back a few aisles to get something I missed. Fortunately I was there at a slow time. To be fair, there was no signage about it at eye level, only the markings on the floor. If someone had told me, I would have apologized and thanked them, so good for you!

[raccoon]

24. Wish you had the opportunity to tell that to the Dotard! Nt