Yesterday I went into Kroger to get a roast and forgot to bring my card with me. I have had it since they started doing the Kroger plus cards. I do not even remember the telephone number I had at that time so they cannot look it up when I forget it. I decided to go ahead and just get the roast because I needed to start dinner. On my way out I saw the customer service desk and thought maybe I could get a new card with my correct number. I went over and was going to go to one window when I noticed it was closed so I turned to go to the other window. There was a woman with kids that looked like she was waiting in line. So I waited behind her for a bit until she moved to let me by. I started to go by her and out of the corner of my eye I noticed another woman that looked like she was going go between all of us even though I was moving to the desk. I heard her say Wow. For whatever reason all the hair on my body stood up for a minute as I realized she meant that wow for me like I was being rude. She was going to cut in line but I was being rude. I was so upset by her wow that I made a rash decision to turn around and leave letting her go ahead to the desk. As I turned around to go past her she almost yelled at me well excuse you. OMG! I couldn’t believe it.

I kept going towards the car and thought about putting my roast in the car and then going back to confront her but changed my mind. I would have told her that I was waiting in line for a bit and asked her why she said wow to me for moving forward. I would have told her it bothered me so much that I decided to let her have the turn she thought she deserved. I would have told her how rude it was to speak to me that way. She didn’t know who I was or know anything about me. She didn’t know what kind of a day I had.

First of all let me say that I believe in the golden rule which is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I didn’t go and speak my mind because I was also turning the other cheek. Confronting her could have causesd a horrible scene instead of making her have an aha moment where perhaps she would think before she speaks mean to someone.

Imagine if you will that you go into a restauraunt to eat and the waitress is sloppy, horrible and you just do not have any satisfaction with her. Do you confront her by making sarcastic remarks? Do you get up to go tell the manager? Well, asking the manager for help would be better than muttering ugly things to someone you don’t know, right? Imagine that the waitress is someone who is usually spotless, fast and efficient but this day is different. You wouldn’t know this information because you never met her before. This day she was told her father died whom she never met. It is a sore sot and she came to work because she had no choice but to go in or loose her job. Her emotions are so all over the place that she is even suicidal. Here you are upset with her and not knowing this information. Your bit of sarcasm to her and those unkind words are enough for her to take off her apron and run from the building. It is enough for her to end her life that day. Would you want that responsibility? You being the last straw tha broke the camels back causing her death?

These are things that run through my head that make me be nice to people even when they are mean. How do I know what they have going through their head to make them be mean in that moment? I don’t! So I just let things slide and turn the other cheek and walk away. I would like it if that woman came and read my blog though. Maybe she would know I am not a rude person at all and how offended that I was. Perhaps reading this would be enough for her to bite her tongue in the future?

Proverbs 15:4

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Matthew 12:36-37

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 3:8

But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Proverbs 12:18

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.