Who is in the wrong here?

[OceanAnnie]

Your "wrong" action was accidental. Their wrong action was deliberate. Pretty easy call.

That's the way I see it.

Plus the woman was mean spirited, cursing, and yelling. That makes her a trifecta of wrongness.

 

[Darsa]

Gah, something that has bugged me for the past little while now has been the fact that "using your words" seems to have gone by the wayside. I didn't realize it was such a challenge to politely say "excuse me" (I have a chirpy little voice just for that) when you need to get through somewhere. I really don't remember the last time I heard someone else (besides my daughter) say excuse me; it's either push through or stand there silently fuming or making impatient noises until the other person realizes that you're in their preferred "go-through" spot.

On the other hand, some of the looks I get when I *do* say excuse me... wow, you'd think I said, "OMG you curse get the curse out of the cursing way!!" over the loudspeaker...

I try to shop when there are very few people around, because it is getting harder to keep my patience.

 

[DizBelle]

Are you certain they didn't say "excuse me"?

I can't tell you how many times I've come across someone somewhere that was blocking the way and I said "excuse me"...... no one moves. "Excuse me" (a little louder)..... no one moves. "EXCUSE ME" (louder still)..... no one moves. Then I end up having to push my way around them.

If people were a little more aware of their surroundings it would benefit everyone.

 

[Kit'smommy]

I don't think they were right, but it might pay to be a little more aware of your suroundings, both for your safety and to be courteous to others.

Saturday, DH and I were walking through Walmart and a lady and her son stopped right in front of us where two aisles intersected. We were walking down one aisle and she was in the other.

Her phone had just started ringing and she stopped right in the middle of the intersection of the aisles to answer it and she, the buggy she was pushing and her teenage son were lined up in a row blocking the aisle. I literally said excuse me four times to the boy before the mother realized they were blocking the entire aisle. And we were standing right beside them waiting to cross.

Later that day we went into Target and two ladies who were together and were both pushing buggies stopped in the middle of a main aisle right in front of us and started discussing the list one of them had. DH and I said excuse me several times (in increasingly louder voices) and then finally headed off in a different direction. A couple of minutes later, we came back by the same spot and they were still there and another customer was standing behind them saying "excuse me." And while I and my DH are normally pretty polite, we looked at each other and DH said "oblivious" out loud.

 

[LJRJR]

They were wrong, and I hope you continued to "not pay attention" when they were being rude.

 

[RadioNate]

Yes, those ladies were rude, but the comment above kind of bothered me. Can you really not help it? I just don't understand I guess because I'm always thinking about what is going on around me and how it affects other people. It would never occur to me to leave my cart in the middle of an aisle (although I'm not sure that's what you did) instead of pulling over to a place where I wouldn't be in the way. Just like it would never occur to me to stop in the middle of a walkway at Disney World to look at a map, or butt in front of a line of traffic. But I have to admit that seeing people do these things every day does get frustrating and I find it hard to believe that they just "can't help it."

This.

They were VERY rude. But I have a hard time with the "I can't help being flighty" excuse. The OP admits to "being in their own world" and it IS possible they could have missed an excuse me since they were oblivious to those around them.

Should the other party have been nicer? Absolutely, they were extremely rude and their actions were over the top giving the situation.

However, maybe the OP does need to pay a little more attention to her surroundings.

 

[winnapooh]

I think you were less wrong, assuming you had your cart out of the way (I hate when people leave their carts in the middle of the aisle!)

However, I would have been annoyed with her as well; I'm going to guess she didn't say excuse me as I agree, like a pp said, that using words has gone out the window. I try and be very conscious of where my cart is when I'm in stores and try and keep it out of peoples way, but sometimes you just can't, or you can't anticipate where people are going to want to look. And sometimes you stop last minute to grab something without thinking, it happens to everyone at times I'm sure.

However, for those people that sigh or comment or run into me instead of saying anything, I typically tell them that "Excuse me usually works." I know it's not the best way to handle it, but why should I have to deal with other peoples rudeness?

 

[Darsa]

Heh, usually when I say excuse me to someone in the store, they jump like I had Tazed them. (followed by the death-glare, of course) so even if someone's in their own little world a polite "excuse me" in a normal conversational tone should bring 'em back down to Earth...

 

[Cooky]

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