Entitled

I was buying groceries today when a random middle-aged white dude circled from the front of the cashier and slipped between me and the guy ahead of me gathering up his groceries.

“That looks good,” he said, pointing to my produce on the conveyer belt.

“Thanks?” I said, wondering where he came from.

“I forgot ice,” he said. He turned to the cashier. “One bag of ice please.”

But she’d already started ringing up my order.

Very long story short, even though I told the cashier we weren’t together and I wasn’t paying for his ice, the confused cashier added his ice to my order. He hovered as she rang up the rest of my items, chit-chatting about nothing anyone who’d listen. When I used my watch to pay, he admired the tech. As the charge went through, he suddenly split to the ice chests, grabbed a big bag, and walked out.

Concerned, the cashier told me to tell him to come back–he’d picked up a bigger bag than she’d rang up. I said I didn’t know him. Eventually the store refunded me for his ice. Another ten minutes out of my day.

The kicker?

He tracked me down in the parking lot, concerned that HE’D been charged for all my groceries. When I told him actually I’d been charged for his ice, he just laughed and walked away.

DUDE! Go pay for your ice!

As I drove home, I realized I was seething. The absolute entitlement with which that dude strode through life. The no concern about anyone else’s time or money, only his own convinience of not standing in line like everyone else, of taking shortcuts. That it didn’t matter that he literally stole ice from the store or money from me or time from everyone who had to undo the knots he created.

And I’m a little frustrated that the cashier didn’t listen to me when I said I didn’t know him and I wasn’t paying for his ice. She locked on to what the middle-aged dude was saying, like she’d been trained to do her whole life. The one person who did listen? The young bagger, also a white male. He’s the one who made sure I was refunded for ice.

Shades of meaning in all this, I’m sure.

What an entitled chaos monkey. Next time I’m just gonna run him over with my cart.