Hamburger Buns and the Mean Man

When something happens and the first thing you do is put it out on Facebook, you know it’s a big deal.  Kind of like my incident with a grocery stocker and a package of hamburger buns.  That’s right, hamburger buns.

Some may have read the Facebook update so you know what happened.  Let me recreate the scene for you so you can understand just how I could get so upset at one miserable old man.

I had gone to the grocery store on Tuesday night and among the basket of stuff, I had hamburger patties.  Who doesn’t like a good hamburger?  Vegetarians.  They don’t like hamburgers.  I don’t know why I put… anyway… I’m pretty notorious for getting items for meals and forgetting major components of that meal.  Small things like a spice or two you can overlook.  Buns for a hamburger you can’t.  Unless I was doing that no carb diet where I would use lettuce as buns.  Ridiculous.  I mean who really thinks that lettuce can be used as buns?  Besides Carl’s Jr?  No one.  Maybe the vegetarians and their bean burgers.  I dunno.   Cows are good.

So I forgot to get buns on Tuesday night.

Last night after work I got to the store to pick up a few things and of course the hamburger buns.  As I approached the bread aisle, I saw that the bread cart was there with this older gentleman standing next to it, filling up the shelves.  I walked up to him and saw the buns that I needed.  Right on the edge of the shelf.  I will say that the man did a great job stocking the bread.

His back was towards me and I reached for the hamburger buns.  After taking them and placing them in my nifty little basket, he turns around and looks at the emptiness I created on his shelf, turns to me with all the disgust in the world and said:

Well…I just put that there!

We had a staring contest for about 5 seconds.  Go ahead and stare at someone who just elevated you from a 5 to a 12 and you will realize just how long 5 seconds really is.  I didn’t say anything.  I continued to stare and he turned back around.  I slowly started walking away, trying to process what had just happened.

I went to the grocery store for some groceries.  One item I needed was hamburger buns.  I saw the hamburger bun storage area. I selected one package of hamburger buns.  I was yelled at for taking something the store was trying to sell.  I didn’t pull all the packages out onto the floor and stomp on them as I twirl my handle bar mustache and run off in my cape.  I tried to purchase something they were selling and the mean old man was mean about it.

I even thought about going back, sticking the buns next to the REGULAR sandwich loaves and grabbing a different package of hamburger buns.  Just to see his face.  Or a stroke.

But I didn’t.  Because I’m quite sure that if I’m in my 70′s stocking up the bread shelves at a grocery store… I will know that I had given up a long time ago.  And that’s depressing, yo.