People Are Strange

If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.

~Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld~

I had quite a few opportunities yesterday to do some people watching. Thought I would share my observations.

First, my youngest daughter is taking sailing lessons, so my oldest daughter and I decided to stay at the beach during the class time. The beach is a great place to people watch. My first observation was of some teens that should not have been wearing the swimsuits they were wearing. A few were so skimpy, they might as well have had nothing on. These girls looked to be 8th grade or so. I have an almost 8th grader, so I think I am a fairly good judge of age. These girls were acting way beyond their years sexually if you know what I mean. And the Jr. High boys with the overactive hormones they were hanging with seemed to only have eyes for their bods. Then there were the few girls wearing the same types of suits that they did not have the body for. More power to them if they are that confident in their body, but when the swimsuit looks two sizes too small, and you are bulging out all over, it might be time to re-think what you're wearing. I don't think we need to be Amish a the beach, but a little decency goes a long way in my book. I don't want to watch your 13 year old strutting around the beach like she's God's gift to all Jr. High boys, and then have to watch the boys molest your daughters with their eyes. And I don't want to have to watch the poor chubby girls falling out of their barely covering swimsuits, trying hopelessly to keep up with the skimpy thin girls. Where are these girls mothers? Do they know what their daughters are doing at the beach?

After the beach I went to the grocery store. As I was walking in there was a lady just finishing putting her groceries in her car. She had one of the closest spots to the entrance. She appeared to be 50ish, appeared to be in good health and appeared to be well off. She was driving a very nice car and was very well dressed. When she finished loading her car, she looked around to see where the cart corral was so she could put her cart away. The nearest corral to her was probably 50 feet away. Maybe a little more, but not far at all. Well, she must have decided it was too far, because she pushed her cart into the handicapped spot next to her car and left it there. This kind of stuff bugs the crap out of me. I had parked pretty far back in the parking lot. It was a beautiful day yesterday. It took me 3-4 times as long to get into the store from my car than it would've been for her to walk to that stupid cart corral. She didn't have any kids with her, like I said she appeared to be in good health. She wasn't parked in the handicapped parking. What is wrong with people? How hard is it to put a cart away? I can understand if it is pouring rain or freezing cold or if you have babies or little ones with you, but none of that applied. I wanted to ask her why she couldn't walk the darn cart to the corral. But I didn't. I should start asking these questions of people's stupid behavior, because they bug me. And I did grab that cart out of the handicapped spot and walk it into the store.

In the store is a whole other world of people watching. I just love the people that pull down the tops of EVERY SINGLE EAR of CORN to see how fresh it is and to find the PERFECT one. So when I want to buy some corn, they are all open and dried out. Maybe you are one of those people, but it is a habit that drives me crazy. How often do you open up an ear of corn that is bad? I don't pull down corn to find good ones, and I have an almost 100% success rate with bringing home decent corn. Or the people that stand in the middle of the aisle, staring at the soup say, for what seems an eternity, and won't move over for you. I will usually wait a minute, and then ask politely if I can get by. Most people move, but then you get the ones who just won't. I've had people tell me they'll be done in a minute. Well, in a minute I could be up and down the next aisle. Usually at the point I'll just turn around. How hard is it to move out of the way? Where do these people get their sense of entitlement and the feeling they are more important than the rest of us? What is up with that? Why are some people just so rude?

My last observation of the day was made at the Emergency vets office. One of my cats got into a scuffle yesterday. He came home with a puncture in his paw, and scratches around his head. I wanted to avoid the ER vet if I could, but he seemed to be in pain and I didn't want to have to worry all night. So around 8pm I am off to the Vet ER. When I arrive two other people are ahead of me. One was a woman with her 2 daughters. (Their dog rolled off the bed and hurt his paw, nothing too serious.) One of the girls appeared to be 6 or so, the other maybe 11 or 12. Both girls were small, thin, pretty girls. Mom was average height, not too thin, appeared to be pretty fit. While they are waiting to check out the oldest one starts lifting up her shirt and patting her stomach. Remember, she is a thin girl, no bulge there. She starts telling her mom how fat she is getting. Patting her now showing stomach and whining about how bad she looks. So her mom turns to her and tells her to do something about it. Watch what you're eating and start working out more. Mom didn't say exercise, she said working out. This girl was thin. I saw an eating disorder in the making. The message itself wasn't a bad one....working out and eating well are good things. But when your thin daughter tells you how fat she is getting, is that the first thing you should say to her? What is wrong with some of these moms? Are they just clueless?

Now I am not saying I am perfect. Far from it. And I suppose someone watching me may think I am weird. But I don't think I am rude, I put my carts away and wear decent swimsuits at the beach (as do my daughters). And I work really hard to let my daughters know that they are fine at any size, health is what is important. So am I just easily annoyed, or do the weird things people do and say bug you too?