Popped into the local shop to buy a loaf of bread. Typically for this time of evening, there's a queue to pay. The woman in front of me leaves her basket where she was standing and goes for a wander round. While she's away, three people are called to the checkouts, so I'm in a quandary. Do I stand there & patiently await her return, causing all the people behind me to start tutting and telling me to move up? I moved up, past her abandoned basket.
Actually, it wasn't that much of a quandary: I've seen this trick before: do half your shopping, join the queue, and leave your basket as a place-marker while you get several more items.
I've also seen people abandon their shopping and leave the shop. It's radically different from when someone takes maybe three steps to pick up something they've just spotted and returns immediately. Or when somebody says 'please' and 'thank you'. Or 'D'you mind?' or even just acknowledges you are there.
Am I supposed to be a mind reader?
She arrives back and says "Sorry!" and thumps me in the arm, shouting "Move out of the way. I was before you!". To which I replied,
"Keep your hands off me!" Raising my voice, to make sure enough people heard I exclaimed "You hit me!"
"But I left my basket on the floor!"
"You left the queue," I said. She tries pushing me out of the way, then repeatedly shoves me in the calves with her basket.
Again I say "Don't you touch me!" Again she says she left her basket on the floor. Again I say she left the queue. At which point she starts calling me a liar, over and over again, before going off into an incoherent spiel, quite possibly not in English.
Knowing the security guard was hovering, I said calmly "You hit me" and again she calls me a liar as she attempts to push me aside, as her tirade becomes increasingly hysterical.
Objectively, the scenario is 50-50. There is some sort of unspoken rule about how long you can be out of the queue without squandering your place. Leaving your basket there as a trip hazard doesn't make any difference (incidentally where the store staff have already left one of their restocking trollies right by the bread where people customarily queue).
If she had been frail in any way I would probably have conceded. If she had addressed me in a civil manner, I would have shrugged and thought "I can't be bothered arguing the toss". But because she immediately hit me, and then continued to shove me, I was not prepared to give ground.
I've seen her type before. They think that by calling you a liar, or some other personal insult, you will be cowed, or at least it will distract attention from her. But I only made two statements - a) you hit me and b) you left the queue, both of which she had already confirmed by justifying them by her leaving her basket on the floor! I am fairly certain that she was trying to provoke a racist insult out of me. Do I look that stupid?
