Grocery Etiquette 104

When did it become the norm to not say excuse me? Did it happen and someone just forgot to send me the memo?

I was brought up to be polite. When I need to get by someone, I say excuse me. If I need something from the shelf I will either say excuse me I just need to snag that or would you mind handing me….. I was also brought up to not stand so close to someone I could smell the soap they used, but it does not seem to have translated to the here and now.

When someone is working on the shelf where the item you want is located, or just slightly above, saying excuse me could you please hand me a can of corn or beans or whatever you want and they will gladly hand it to you. What is really not a nice thing to do is reach over the worker, grab one can while also knocking over a can which then lands on the knee cap of said person. Especially when one cannot swear to alleviate the pain.

And please do not use that smarmy ‘I’m sorry’ tone which is a clear indication that you are not sorry.

Needless to say, I envisioned an entire wall of cans falling on the customer.