Monday, September 14, 2026

If Cursing Offends You, This One Is Not For You


I am just fucking cranky today. That's all there is to it. And things like these displays at the Costco have not helped. 
And actually, maybe I wasn't cranky so much as just not in the mood to take any shit. I think I was pretty sweet to my husband and Jessie when we had lunch together and I was nice to our server because she didn't annoy the living hell out of me and when I made a funny face at a little guy in a cart at Costco and he smiled and started waving to me I felt like I'd been handed a hundred silver dollars. 
But when a woman behind Jessie and me in line waiting to get our carts checked with our receipts started saying things like, "This is totally inappropriate!" because for whatever reason there was only one employee doing that instead of the regular two and then, when the Karen said, "I'm going to start going to Sam's!" I really, really wanted to turn around and say, "Well, please do, lady. Get your spoiled white hiney over to Sam's and see if they recognize your obvious superiority to the rest of us who are waiting patiently in line."
And I don't know. She may have been on her way to an appointment to get her gallbladder removed. 
Probably not, but you know what I mean. 
And I considered that perhaps she was going through something I had no idea about and shouldn't judge her and then my evil side came back out and said, "Fuck that."
And then, and THEN, when the guy in the liquor store said, in response to something, "There's a purpose for everything," I said, "And it's not always a good one."
Then he started talking about how even when it appeared to be something bad, we could always choose to learn something from it. 
And of course he was probably about thirty-two years old, if that. 
So I said, "Yeah, I used to believe that too." Which was truly just rude. I admit that.
And I guess I did used to believe in the theory that everything happened for a reason and blah, blah, blah. Now I pretty much just believe that random shit happens and some of it is really, really fucked up. Of course you can choose to learn that from a bad experience. Which isn't very positive. 
I think about Glen's friend. 
Y'all- he is not doing good. His prognosis is not the best. At all. And despite what is probably the best medical care he could be getting from various doctors who are all specialists in their fields, he is not responding to treatment. A week ago, he was a seemingly healthy, hale man and then within moments, he was in danger of dying. 
What's the purpose of that? What can he or his wife or his family or any of us choose to learn from that?
Oh sure. Life is tenuous. We never know from one moment to the next what's going to happen. But do we not all already know this? Was his condition laid upon him by the universe for others to learn from? 
Oh hell no. 

Okay. One more thing. And this is really petty. 

I was at Publix. As I so often am. And the woman who was bagging my groceries is a manager of some sort. First she asked me if I needed help unloading my cart. I had about five things left to put on the belt and none of them were heavy in the least. Plus, they were all right there in the child seat place. I didn't even have to lean over to retrieve them. At first I really didn't understand what she was asking. Obviously I didn't need any Gee Dee help. I was doing just fine unloading bananas and light bulbs. 
But then, when I went to take my groceries out to the car, I realized she had packed my big canvas bags so lightly that some of them literally had one item in them. A bunch of bananas in one bag. A tray of okra, some ginger root, and a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing in another. Do I really look this old and incapacitated? 
When I got to the car, I rebagged the items. She had my stuff in six bags and I easily condensed them into three. And then, just to prove how very not incapacitated I am, I carried those bags, plus the bags holding my Costco groceries in one single trip into the house. Plus my purse. Plus my thermal water bottle. 
See this, lady? Yeah. I sure showed her, didn't I? 

And none of it should have upset me like this. None of it. 
Okay. Maybe the Karen. Karens upset everyone. Well, except other Karens or Mr. Karens. 
It's just...life. 

I wonder what I'm really angry about. I honestly do not know. Quite possibly the fact that I am aging at a not insignificantly rapid rate and even worse, I look like it. 
Even as I feel younger than I have in years. 
Mostly. 
Well, pretty much. 
And I was even wearing a really cute dress! With pearl earrings that I discovered I owned when I took a bracelet I had hanging on my bathroom wall off it's little nails (storage AND decor) and which I had no memory of ever having. The earrings. Not the bracelet. I got that and also another outrageous vintage bracelet from Lynn, years and years ago and as I recall, she knew someone who'd had a house fire and everything smelled like smoke so she was getting rid of all of it and Lynn took the bracelets, thinking I'd like them. 
I love them. 



These charms are huge which is why a pair of earrings with relatively large "pearls" could be hidden behind them. 
I should actually wear these bracelets. And isn't that what an old lady would and should do? Wear crazy costume jewelry that clanks and clinks when it moves? That has missing stones and has perhaps lost its luster? 
I've never thought of myself as a "big" jewelry type of woman but perhaps it's time to simply move into that stage of age and accept the fact that if not now, when? 

I know I look like an old lady. I have white hair, my skin is...well, let's face it...ill-fitting as I said the other day. My bosoms are exactly what a pair of bosoms that joyfully and successfully breastfed four babies with should look like (and no bra-like garment is going to change that fact) and my ear lobes, no matter what beautiful earrings dangle from them are stretched and Buddha-like. 
Still. I am not yet too weak to carry more than one bunch of bananas at a time. 
That day, if I live long enough, will come. 
Until then, please don't condescend to me and make assumptions based on nothing but age discrimination. 
And don't say stupid shit about how everything has a purpose which is exactly like saying, "God's ways are not our ways," and also, if you don't have the patience to wait forty-five seconds in a line at Costco, just order your shit from Amazon. 
Okay? 
Spare the rest of us your inability to be comfortable with the fact that we are all in this together, whether it's a line or a life. Can you imagine having a life in which something like there only being one employee checking receipts is a major disruption in your day? That it could be labeled as "inappropriate"? Oh honey, I could tell you about inappropriate and that ain't it. That ain't even close. 

Carry on. 

Love...Ms. Moon




 

46 comments:

  1. You are spot on with your perceptions. Humans suck. I’m glad you said that to the guy at the store. It’s like, fucking shut up.

    I have natural blonde-gray hair these days. I know people treat me differently when I look a certain way. I refuse to look differently and sit two hours to change my hair color to be treated differently by the public though.

    I get what you’re saying maybe .

    Lady at Costco is miserable. Clearly.

    I’m so sorry about Mr.Moon’s friend.

    -Nicol

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    1. Thank you, Nicol. I have no desire to try and make myself look "younger." Why? I am not younger. I am exactly the age I am and just because society thinks I should be fighting that, doesn't mean I believe it or plan to participate in it.

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  2. So a group of my neighbors and I were talking about our upcoming displacement due our apartments being sold out from under us. One who is a student and could therefore actually find another home in this town of student housing said "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." And without missing a beat, or thinking about the impact of my words I came back, "What doesn't kill us leaves us scarred and broken." I used to wonder why old women were so irascible, now I'm beginning to think it comes with aging and finding out the truth about things.

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    1. GOOD for you! That's another one of my least favorite sayings. What doesn't kill us does not have a damn thing to do with making us stronger. At all. It fucks us up.
      Yes. I like being old enough to tell the truth and shame the damn devil.

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    2. Love your answer and will try to remember to use that myself.

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  3. Bloody Karens! anyway..the bracelets are very beautiful, but then you said the charms are large and right away I knew I would never wear them because they might get caught on something and get damaged.
    I think some people see white/grey hair and wrinkles and equate age with infirm and have to ask if you need help. Or maybe they ask because the store requires them to? Who knows. But you are not the first person I have read that also got asked "do you need help?" and when you know your own capabilities it is annoying to have others assume otherwise.

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    1. The charms have missing "jewels' as is so I wouldn't be afraid to wear it for that reason.
      Yes. The store does require them to but sometimes could we just use a little common sense? And honestly, sometimes I absolutely appreciate someone asking if they can help me, even if I don't need it but yesterday was not one of those days.

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  4. Yep...everything you said. Totally. I even think I'm carefully watched because when I put things in the little space in the grocery cart where my purse is, the watchful clerks may think I'm going to try to steal that 2 dollar pear. I get back at them however, and stop and ask inane questions...like where's the coffee, while standing right in front of it. You can look suspiciously at this elder, and I stand firm in my honesty, and cunning. Wait, does that make me look even more suspicious? The pears will continue to be placed right outside my purse, whatever!

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    1. I always keep my purse on me in the store but I will admit that I have left an item in the cart which made me feel as guilty as if I had been trying to steal it.

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  5. I just hate listening to people blithely believing they have the answers to every one else"s questions. Or people who have an inflated idea of their own importance. Some days though. I am just a bitch and I really don't like people in general.

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    1. Or not even in answer to a question but simply telling everyone how to do shit when they haven't got the slightest idea what they're talking about. These people seem to have a great need to share what they think their knowledge is.
      People can be so heartbreakingly sweet and so mindblowingly stupid.

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  6. The also infuriating flip side of one grocery item per bag is a place I shop (they have great produce....) where if not carefully monitored the checkers put so much in each bag that they are hard to shift into the cart - like its a contest to see how many of my reusable bags get sent home empty. And THEN, after creating these immoveable objects, ask if I need help getting them to my car! Yes, actually, I DO need help, and would you please ride home with me and unpack them! Of course what I really do is repack standing in the driveway. Really need to find another place with good produce! Tomorrow is grocery day and I'm going to tell them pre-check out not to put too much in each bag, damn it.

    Cheers,
    Ceci

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    1. Yeah. I always want to ask them if they'll drive home with me to help me unload all these things. I often get asked how heavy or light I want my bags packed and I tell them I may be old but I'm still pretty strong and if they pack them too light, I'll just end up carrying a whole bunch at once. Sort of the opposite of what your store does.

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  7. Can you explain what is going on with " checking the receipts" please? Does that happen every time? Where I do my food shopping ( Waitrose) I do a self scan .....ie I scan the goods with a " zapper" and then they go into my bag, and don't have to come out until I am home to unpack. About every few months or so, before I can pay, there will be a random check......the assistant just checks that I have scanned a few higher cost items, and that is it!!

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    1. At Costco it does happen every time. And at Costco, they don't have bags so many people just have their items in the cart. I do and then I pack them into my own bags in the car. It used to annoy me to have my receipt checked but now I'm so used to it I don't even give it a second thought. If it keeps their prices down by keeping people honest, that's good for all of us. And yes, you can do self-check-out there too as well as go through a line with a cashier.

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  8. Oh, bless your heart! You said a lot of what I’ve been thinking when I’m out and about (or home alone), except maybe for the description of the boobs. And oh how I hate “everything happens for a reason.” Tell me the reason a woman is abused by her husband. Or the people of Gaza are being massacred. Or the Orange Menace is in the White house. Obviously, I could go on, but this probably doesn’t help you any. At least you were nice to Glenn and Jessie. Go hug a grandkid.

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    1. What is there to learn when a child gets cancer? What purpose is there to that? I HATE that sort of religious bullshit. Because it is religious bullshit in the sense that there is some sort of magical thinking to try and explain the inexplicable. Call it god or call it the universe- Fuck it.
      Hugging grandkids or friends or sweethearts is the best remedy for all of it. You are right.

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    2. And it’s not even a god thing. Many people (SO MANY PEOPLE... TOO MANY PEOPLE) who have said that to me aren’t even believers in any god. When my sister died at 29, my parents’ next door neighbor said, “If we could put all our troubles up in a tree and chose the ones we wanted, we’d still chose our own.” WTF?!?!?! My mother let him know what she thought of that.

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    3. WTF?!?!?! indeed. Never heard that one. I'm glad your mother responded appropriately.

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  9. I've known a few people who were permanently angry and in the end I just felt sorry for them. That's not to say I'm around them by choice either as they bring me down but that person bitching about the line at the supermarket would have annoyed me too. I remember being in a post office in Pittsburgh one time and there was only one person on duty. The man behind me was bitching away like nobody's business and in the end - and very unusually for me - I turned round to him and said "you do realize you're preaching to the choir here don't you. The lady's working as fast as she can"! Oddly enough he didn't tell me to f... off and shut up after that!

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    1. I think that very often these people who have no sense of anything other than self are shocked when someone comes back at them. Like- they just can't believe anyone would do that. Good for you.

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  10. I believe that one of the prerogatives of being a senior is a free pass to be cranky. I exercise this right every once in a while too. We should form a club. And yes, I'm home now and back to daily blogging!

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    1. I'm with you, cranky lady!
      Glad you're back. I've missed you.

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  11. My daughter is a bagger at Publix, and they are required to ask you if you need help to your car…no matter your age, race, religion, etc…
    She has actually been reprimanded (!) for not asking each and every person if they need help taking their groceries out.
    Hope this helps others to not feel as if they’re being singled out because of any reason.. it’s truly just their job. And I would ask everybody to be kind when asked if they need help. Publix is an amazing organization that hires many with disabilities, including my daughter.
    Kindness matters.

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    1. Oops. Forgot to mention they are also required to ask everybody if they can help put the groceries on the belt. No matter who the customer is.
      Of course, these are all rules that apply to my daughters location…not sure if it’s company-wide.

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    2. Same at my grocery store. They ask everybody.

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    3. Four members of my family work at Publix including my sixteen-year old grandson and his mother and his father. And a daughter-in-law (of sorts). I know about these rules. I do not mind at all being asked if I need help out to my car. I can easily and politely just say "no thanks," which is what I do. But the whole helping put stuff on the belt thing is sort of a step too far for me. Let us use some common sense here. If the customer is obviously struggling and things are getting held up, yes, ask! If the person has merely a few small items left to put on the belt- just keep bagging! And generally these days I get asked how heavy I want my bags packed. That, too, is fine although it somewhat annoys me. But that woman yesterday just assumed I could not carry more than one bunch of bananas at a time, I suppose, and that felt incredibly condescending. Plus, I was already in a bad mood. I wasn't rude, I didn't say anything. I just wheeled my cart out and repacked the bags.

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  12. Well, fuck. I wrote a long comment and then stupidly accidentally deleted it.

    I went through a phase where I was spending my change so one day digging in my pocket and counting out the coins the woman waiting behind me made a rude comment. I told her relax, waiting a few extra minutes wasn't going to change the quality of her life. She responded that some of us have stuff to do. I thought she was doing far more damage with her self induced stress than the few minutes she had to wait. Another time I had a 30 pound bag of cat food in my cart and the young thing cashier asked if I needed help getting it in the car. I told her I got it in the cart, I think I can get it in the car. I was just trying to be nice she said which was, of course, true so I felt kind of bad about my snippy remark. Now I just say, thanks but I can manage.

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    1. I always feel so pressured if, say, I can't figure out where the little chip symbol is on whatever device a store is using for us to pay with. Ugh. I hate it. I need to learn to care less.
      I've had the same experience with the heavy bags of things that I've already lifted to put into my cart. Uh. No thanks.
      And here's another thing- "Do you want your milk in a bag?" They ask this because the damn thing has a handle on it but if they don't put it in a bag, I have to use one entire hand just to carry that milk whereas if you put it in a bag with other things, I can sling the handles over my shoulder and carry a bunch more stuff. How hard is that to figure out?

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  13. I wonder if you see how sick Glen's friend became overnight, and worry about Glen becoming that sick overnight, or worse, losing Glen. Grief is a strange beast and often slips out sideways.
    When Katie was a baby and just diagnosed, I was at McDonalds with all three kids and there was a group of church people talking about praying for the money to pave their parking lot. I wanted to yell at them to stop wasting god's time with fucking parking lots and let god do something about baby's with real problems. But I didn't.
    It's okay to be angry, to be cranky, to be whatever you need to be right now. It's scary. Life and death are random and it's scary as hell sometimes/often.
    I had to get down on the grass last night at soccer because Jack was having a meltdown and I'm not very graceful now but I also thought, this is just how it is now.
    Sending hugs and love sweetie.

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    1. I think Glen is probably more concerned about how suddenly and unexpectedly a person can be struck down by something incredibly serious. I already worry all the damn time he's going to die from working too hard in the heat and stuff like that to even begin to add sudden brain swelling to the list. He cannot die before I do. He just can't.
      Oh- god. That whole thing about praying for stupid shit is ridiculous. Really? Really? Kids are dying from child abuse and you're bothering your god with prayers for asphalt money?
      Bite me.
      I am so sorry Jack had a meltdown. He really has the big feelings, doesn't he? And I know you do too and when he has his, it must be so hard for you. Bless you.
      Loving and hugging you back.

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  14. I can see how the illness of Glen's friend has put you (and probably he) on edge, and how could it not? I hope there is a clearer diagnosis and path of treatment soon, and that it works. We all know life is random and things can happen suddenly, but until they really DO happen we can't quite take on that knowledge, I think.

    As for the guy in the liquor store, well...youth.

    I'm sure I have been that Karen from time to time, though I don't think I would have mouthed off to everyone else in line! I would have been Karen INSIDE MY OWN HEAD. As you said, maybe she's having stressful life events. Or maybe she's just obnoxious.

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    1. And even when someone we know is affected in such a sudden and frightening way, we still can somehow hold a little bit of denial about how yes, it can happen to someone else, even someone we know and love and yet...surely not us.
      Humans are weird. I should know, I am one.
      Aren't we all Karens inside our heads at some points in our life? What makes a real Karen is the speaking out loud part. Like hey- we've all thought about murdering someone at least once. (Or maybe that's just me.) But if we don't actually do the murdering, we are not murderers! Correct?
      And there are obnoxious people. There just are.

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  15. I am worried about Glen's friend too. Watching a friend go through illness that nobody can figure out has to be one of the, if not the worst experience.
    People say stupid things and I've learned to accept this and mostly ignore it. My response is: I smile and say okayyyyy. (long and drawn out) and they see I give them no credence. I walk away thinking, idiot.
    Maybe that is self-righteous and heavy handed, but it works for me.
    There is always tomorrow and the hope for a better day.
    Susan

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    1. That's a good way to respond, Susan. It really is.
      We're all a bit self-righteous at times. I think Mother Teresa was probably one of the most self-righteous people on the planet.

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  16. I can imagine that yours was not a *pleasant* day to endure. For many reasons...and sometimes for NO discernable reason at all- we feel this way. I felt the steaming hot energy emanating from your words as I read this.....
    I too, am sorry for your and Glenn's friends dire illness...
    Susan M.

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    1. and WTH? Costco has Christmas displays in September? Susan M

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    2. Oh, there were some very, very pleasant parts of the day. I happily admit that.
      Oh hell yes. Lots of places around here already have Christmas shit up.

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  17. The worry about Glen's friend just brings you down. It makes me sad just reading about it. I like Mitchell's advice - go hug a grandkid.
    Do what you want when you want and ignore the assholes.

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    1. The worry about Glen's friend is not so heavy on me as it is for Glen by any means. I think I am just being cranky. A mean old woman.
      But sweet to sweet people. So there's that.

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  18. Here in Nevada they don't offer paper bags at the grocery; it's plastic all the way. Those baggers are FAST filling them, too, and generally just one or two items per bag. It breaks my heart. (I prefer a well-filled bag, even if heavy, to a trunk full of light ones).

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    1. Seriously? Plastic only? I know in Cozumel they don't offer any bags any more. You bring your own which is one way to get people to acquire their own reusable bags. Same with Aldi's. When the baggers ask me if I want my meat in a plastic bag before they put it in my canvas bags I always decline. I can wash those bags if they need it but those meat trays are pretty darn leakproof these days.

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  19. one of the things you might consider for those pretty bracelets is to convert them to necklaces

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    1. Nope. I already have three beautiful charm necklaces. But good suggestion.

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  20. Those are lovely Bracelets. You really were quite emotionally raw this day and on days like that almost anything can become magnified. And this Post did make me Smile all the same coz I certainly have had days like this! And I curse like a Sailor and even give fair Warning in my Blog's Personal Profile lest the faint of Heart have the Vapors. *Winks* Live can be terribly unpredictable and unfair. The Daughter's Boyfriend, who already had Stage 4 Cancer and battling it bravely, was killed over Labor Day Weekend by a hit and run Driver while riding his Bike to the Convenience Store! She had to identify the Body by his Tattoos and is so traumatized by it. Life is very tenuous and bad things happen to good people and to innocent people just minding their own business, no trite sayings can make any sense of that and so when folks use those sayings, well, it really can hit a raw nerve. Big Hugs.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.