Just Pay For Your Pine Cleaner And Get The Hell Out Of The Way

I had my bi-weekly meeting today, which necessitated driving in to work.
Since I was headed in that general direction anyway I stopped at the Safeway across the street from my old apartment to gas up, as it seems to have the cheapest gas around.
I'd left earlier than I really needed to in order to make my way over to the Dulles Town Center to try a Pizza Dog for lunch. It was good, but it's got nothing on the Bacon Dog.
While I was there I actually saw someone from work, which makes this the first time in 3+ years that I've been out and just randomly seen someone from work (not counting a former boss whom I saw at a grocery store a while after he'd gotten canned).
Even though she was there on her own and is at this point the only attractive woman I ever encounter at work on a regular basis, as previous attempts at engaging her in conversation on the job have led to me picking up the "I hate you" vibe that emanates from her whenever I try engaging her in conversation.
Of course, I think "hate" is a bit strong, as I don't imagine that she gives me enough thought or energy to actually muster up hatred for me, but it's been very clear that she doesn't like me.
Why? I don't think there's any particular reason. Certainly I haven't done anything that I can think of that would make her dislike me.
Other than simply existing, at any rate, which I've found over the years is often enough to make most women dislike me.
But whatever.
From there I went to the meeting and afterwards spent the better part of an hour trying to get home.
Actually, it was the worst part of an hour because it shouldn't have taken that damn long, and most of that time was spent on a highway that looked more like a parking lot.
This led to all sorts of angry questions, like "Why is this taking so long?" and "Why are there so many cars on the road at two in the afternoon on a Thursday?" and "Whose bright idea was it to have two lanes of this on-ramp merge into one lane immediately before that lane has to merge with a busy highway?"
Once I actually got onto Route 7 from 28 I still wasn't moving, as it was apparently some kind of road construction five miles down the road that had everything backed up, so I decided to turn off into Ashburn and get onto the Greenway and pay the $2 to get home.
Since I needed to stop for a few groceries anyway, and this alternate route was taking me right past it, I stopped at the Shoppers in Ashburn.
Once I grabbed my three items I headed for the express lane. There were two people ahead of me and they were both purchasing only one item, so I thought that there was no possible way for either of them to make the process of buying one product complicated.
I was mistaken.
The old man at the head of the line decided to deliver a broken-English lecture to the mopey teenaged cashier about the power of a smile.
Still at near postal levels from the traffic experience, I damn near exploded, though I did restrain myself and stood there in my silent rage rather than busting out with something along the lines of, "Look old guy, it's great that you've lived for like a hundred years or whatever and have maintained a sunny disposition and that you want to share your wisdom and experience with the younger generation, but somewhere along the line in your increasingly rapid procession to the grave you should have come to realize that mopey teenagers are going to be mopey no matter what you say to them. And just because you're not in a hurry, and are, in fact, desperate to put on the brakes, that doesn't mean the rest of us don't have places we'd rather be than standing in line listening to you delivering advice that wouldn't be listened to even if it could be understood, okay?
And by the way, in the future you can go ahead and shell out the extra twenty cents and spring for actual Pine-Sol rather than 'Pine Cleaner.'"
While I was standing there not saying any of that the old guy got some kind of noncommital grunt from the mopey teen, which apparently satisfied him and he was on his happy way, while the mopey teen soldiered on mopily.
Even the lady ahead of me buying a bag of carrots managed to stall for a little time by having to count out exact change to pay for them.
What is wrong with people? What is so goddamn hard about just keeping your mouth shut, paying for your shit, and getting the hell out of the next person's way? Don't try to start up a conversation, don't watch every single item ring up and try to haggle over the price, find out how much something costs before you get in line so that you won't be shocked when it costs a whopping ten cents more than you expected, don't pay for your shit with pennies, and if you have some kind of problem take it up at the service counter after you've gotten the fuck out of my way.
It's really very easy, so why do you insist on making it so difficult?
*Sigh*
So yeah, that was my day, which was just the perfect way to end my weekend.
Actually, once I got home it wasn't so bad, as I was able to relax and not deal with people.
And of course now I've had the chance to vent, so I'm feeling much better.
Hopefully the next three days of working will be a lot less irritating, but you'll note that I'm not turning blue from holding my breath.
In any case, I hope all of you have a relaxing, hassle-free weekend.