Rice Crackers

“That's not how I remember it.” I glared at the little snot. Her manager stood watching us, and a Community Service Officer was trying to sort things out.

“Well, I'll tell you how it really happened. I don't care what she says,” I look over at the Trader Joe’s clerk,“She's crazy.”

“Okay, enough name-calling. Tell me your side.” The CSO waited patiently for me to talk.

“I came inside this Trader Joe's, and there were so many people in there! All these young people were cutting in front of me. No one has manners any longer. They all act entitled, as if the store is theirs and there aren’t rules about how to move your cart in the aisles. No 'thanks' or 'excuse me' – just cutting in front as if we older people are invisible. They want us to get out of their way, because their time is so precious.” The CSO raised her eyebrows and tapped her pen on the pad, trying to hurry me along.

“I had my cart next to the produce cases, and this woman in tight spandex workout pants hopped right in front of it. She didn't say excuse me or anything, cutting in with her back to me. I quickly stopped my cart, so I didn’t hit her – that’s how fast it happened. I waited until she was done rummaging through the sweet peppers, which is what I was there to get.”

The CSO wasn’t just taking notes; she was recording what I said. “Hey, you didn’t ask my permission to record me.”

“Oh, I don’t need your permission. The store gave me permission, and you are in the store - see?”

I know she saw me swallow. Beads of sweat broke out along my hairline. I took 3 deep breaths, slow, long inhales with longer exhales. She took 2 steps back, while the clerk bounced on the balls of her feet. “Did you want to continue, or should I take Ms. Keller’s statement now?”

I grimaced at both of them. “NEXT, I headed up toward the dairy section. To my left, at the end cap, something caught my eye. I tried to get my cart back into traffic, so to speak, but people were zigzagging in front of me, and I couldn't turn my cart outward. Frustrated, I backed up and said very loudly, ‘Well, excuse me, I'll just park my cart!’ After that incident, I went up a ridiculously crowded aisle and looked for crackers which usually are stashed above the chill cases. I wanted specific rice crackers; they come in a little rectangle-shaped box wrapped in crinkly plastic. You can see the crackers through the plastic. I always buy them; they are delicious, even my husband switched from Ritz crackers to them." Once again, the CSO tapped her pen on the pad as if to say, 'hurry up.' " Anyway, I'm headed up the aisle, looking. My eyes weave from left to right and right to left, slowly. AND my eyes are, you know, older eyes. I have to put eye drops in them all the time because they get really dry and uncomfortable, so sometimes I squint because I can't see as well as people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. I was looking as I pushed the cart, and I see rice crackers but not the ones I want. The clerk who has been stocking the aisle was gone. I went up a few other aisles looking at other things I might want. I peeked down the very crowded aisle that the crackers were in, and when I saw that the crowd had moved on, I figured it would easier to have another look. I still didn't see the my specific rice crackers. I began to hunt down a clerk out on the floor - not one of the checkers 'cause they'd be too busy to answer my question. I just wanted to find a stocking clerk refilling the shelves. After looking in 3 aisles, I came across one.”  I look at MS. KELLER and hold her gaze. “She (I point) was dressed in her black Trader Joe's shirt stocking the freezer case. By the way, there are crackers and cookies above the freezer case. I asked her, using hand motions - I said: ‘I'm looking for rice crackers. They come in a little rectangular box - and I slid my fingers out like a rectangle - it was an in and out motion signifying a rectangle box. She looked at me and said: ‘What? Crackers?’  I said, ‘rice crackers,’ and she said: ‘What? Rice crackers?’ I said: YES! Rice crackers, in a rectangular box, and I slid my fingers in and out again, indicating the shape and size. She then said: ‘What? Oh, yeah, you mean rice crackers, in a little box like this - and she slides her fingers in and out, like I had shown her!  By then, I was ready to choke her, but I didn’t. I took a deep breath in.”

“A deep breath, huh? Like the one you did when I told you I don’t need your permission to record you?” The CSO was smiling her crooked, superior smile.  I inhaled deeply and loudly.

“I answered her,” pointing at MS. KELLER again, “Yes, like that,” to her hand motions of the cracker box, and she said, “Oh, we don't have any until November.”

“Is that all?” The CSO was in a hurry - like all the young people. I nodded affirmatively.

Ms. Keller began her side of the story. (I call it ‘story,’ because, you know, it was a story – it's not how it happened.)

“Not at all how it happened,” she began. “I was stocking the freezer case, and there are no crackers in that aisle. You came up to me and said: ‘Do you have any rice crackers?’ But as you asked me, you reached across and moved some of the cookies that I had just straightened out. Then you reached down into the freezer case and picked up one of the boxed items of kung pao chicken." She turned to face the CSO, and said: "She put it back but didn't put it where it should go, so I had to fix it. I had to straighten the cookies too. Then she said very snottily, ‘I'm looking for rice crackers.’ And I said to her, very kindly, ‘The rice crackers are in the next aisle over, ma'am.’ And she said, ‘I don't wanna go over there and look again. I want to know if you have rice crackers.’ And I told her, ‘Yes, we do, ma'am. They're in the next aisle over.’ And she said, ‘Rice crackers in a rectangle box.’ And I moved my fingers in and out like a rectangle and said, ‘You mean in the box like this?' as I motioned. And she started yelling at me. The worst part was when she scrambled all the items above and in the freezer case. That made more work for me."

She glared at me, as if I were the one in the wrong. Then I realized her issue. “Items not in symmetry are a trigger for you? I'm so sorry."

The CSO told us she was finished. Mr. Jefferson, the manager, apologized to me for not having the crackers in stock and gave me a date when they would be.

“Mr. Jefferson, I think my job here is done. Is there anything else I can help with?” The CSO asked, and Mr. Jefferson said there was nothing. He looked at us and told us to wait there while he walked the CSO to the front of the store.

Once the CSO was gone, Mr. Jefferson walked over to us.

“No hard feelings, right?” He looked at his employee and me, and we both smiled and shook hands. “So, we’re good then." To me, he asked: "Are we your preferred store?”

I nodded.

“Great. Let’s keep it that way. Would you like me to call you when the crackers come in?”

“Oh, heavens, no. I wouldn’t put you out like that. It would be sort of crackers, don’t you think?”

All three of us laughed at the little inside joke.

 #FictionFromFact #Humans #Shopping #Manners #Seniors #CustomerService #BasedOnTrueEvent

             Copyright © 10/25/2026 by Andrea O. Corwin