I went to the store this past weekend, but the whole time I was there, I did not feel welcome. I was with my brother, and we had our masks on. We followed the rules of staying at least six feet apart from everybody else, but it did not feel right. When I was reaching for a chocolate bar, the lady next to me ran away from me. My brother and I chose to split up to look for the items we needed from the grocery store. When I went looking for ice cream, the man on that same aisle took out his arm as if to say “keep your distance” with his hand. I chose to stay as far away from him as I could since he looked livid, and I thought that he might hit me.
The second time that I was scared was when I went to find my brother in the cheese aisle. I walked to where I last saw him and as I was heading there, this elderly couple looked at me ugly and pushed the cart to keep me away. Like a real girl, did you hit me with the cart? Me being a mature member of society, I decided just to walk away, but inside I was pissed. This old lady hit me with her dumb cart, but I was not about to fight an old lady. I found my brother, and we decided to pay for the necessary sweets that we came for. We headed for the self-checkout, and as I was scanning the items, this dumb worker kept ugly, staring at me. I have been in this store for like twenty minutes, and already a third person wants to fight me. Again, I chose not to do anything and looked the other way.
As we were heading through the automatic sliding doors, someone smiled at me. It was a worker that worked in the front. The only smile that I received that day was a worker whose words were “Have a good day.” That little action made my day. On this short run for snacks a man seemed to push me with the force like he was Darth Vader, an old lady hit me with her cart, and a worker kept staring at me like a weirdo, but this human-made my day with his little gesture of smiling at me.
On the car ride home, I brought up the topic of living during a pandemic. I said that it was weird that we were living in this situation since the only time we ever thought of a pandemic was during history class. The Black Plague and the Spanish Influenza is what comes to my mind when I think of an outbreak. It feels like we are living in a movie scene or a history book. I then told him of the man that smiled at me today and agreed that it was the only kind act that happened that day.