On being the bad guy

Democracy dictates that I'm the bad guy. It's the curse of everyone who goes slightly against popular opinion, unfortunately. It happened to Darwin, it happened to Aristotle and it happens to me. I've just got back from my local supermarket. It was quite busy, as it was 3.30 on a Sunday and only half an hour to closing time (that's a rant for another day.) I only had four items in my hand, so I looked for the magical 'one basket only' till. Nothing annoys me more in a supermarket than having to wait for three people to do their weekly shop when all I want is one or two things, so I'm a big fan of the basket lane. I put my items down on the conveyor belt and stood waiting.

As I waited, a woman came up behind me with a trolley load of groceries. She began to put them onto the conveyor. I smiled and politely pointed out to her that this is the basket only lane. She apologised, clearly not realising her mistake, and went to find another queue.

At this point, the old guy in front of me said "She'd have probably got away with that!" I smiled and looked back in the other direction in the stereotypically british 'I don't really want to talk to you' kind of way. But he went on "that was a bit harsh, she'd have been alright. I wouldn't have said anything, myself..." completely ignoring the fact that the basket only lane is there for a good reason, so that people like himself don't have to wait behind people doing massive shops if all they want is a loaf of bread and some washing up liquid.

And this is, of course, the problem. Not just the fact that this bloke wouldn't have told the woman that she was doing something wrong, but that he was more keen to chastise me for saying something to her. We have actually somehow sleep-walked into a society that is not only afraid to call a spade a spade, but actually considers it unacceptable to do so. If this kind of logic is allowed to continue, I predict the next generation will grow up without being potty-trained because parents are too afraid to scold their children for shitting on the floor. Perhaps, metaphorically speaking, it's already happened; I've certainly been shit on quite a lot in my life by people who really should know better. Still, society eventually gave in and admitted that Darwin and Aristotle were right, so I'll probably get my day one day. Knowing my luck I'll be long dead by then.