Saturday, December 4, 2010

About Shopping with Beverages...

Today's subject:   Shopping with beverages.  I'm not sure at what point in time so many people became incapable of walking in to a store without clutching a cup of hot coffee or a dripping cold beverage. It might be about the same time that water bottles became a semi-permanent fixture, either stuck in everyone's mouth or clutched in their hand as if it was their last chance to hydrate on this earth.   It's all a blur.  A very bad blur.

Most stores and offices have signs indicating that you need a shirt and shoes - or you will have no service.  Many more have signs that say "no food or drink in store" or the more gentrified, "please enjoy your beverages outside."   Not only are  these signs ignored, but customers often bristle offensively when asked to "leave your cup on the counter while you browse" or "Let me know if you need anything, and do be careful with the coffee!" chirped ever so pleasantly.  WELL. I NEVER.  (Stomp out in a huff.)   "Good riddance,"  I think to myself.

People sipping coffee/tea/soda/pop/water are rarely purchasing anything. They are recreational shopping.  That alone is cause for having your head examined, but please consider the store owners who are left with soggy quilt fabric, dribbled on greeting cards, dripped on t-shirts, and puddles of god knows what where a coffee cup (not empty) was "cleverly" tucked behind merchandise when the drinker was looking for a place to get rid of it.  I was in a well known department store shopping for a new down comforter when I pulled one from the shelving and found just such an abandoned cup of coffee. It had teeny little bugs crawling around it  - and I put the down comforter back.  Even though it was encased, I don't want anything in my bed that was near those bugs.

Lest you think this does not affect you, please know the cost of replacing these stained shirts & merchandise is passed along to the consumer - you and I are paying for the nimrods who can't separate themselves from their precious drinks.  I love to have a cup of coffee, but I take a break from what I am doing and sit down and DRINK THE DAMN COFFEE.  It is much more relaxing and does not encroach on other people's property or skeeve out people who have to watch you slurp and dribble on what would otherwise be saleable merchandise.

If you do it - knock it off.  If you don't - you are a reasonable person who is not a nimrod.

Thank you, and spread the word.

2 comments:

  1. I'm just catching up on your posts....love everyone of them. I find the bottles of water disgusting. And the worst...........the absolute worst of the bottles...........the ones with the "nipple" on top so you have to "pull" your water out. Now why in the hell would a perfectly healthy, presumably sane adult drink water from a bottle like that? The eight glasses a day myth drives this insanity as well as the "you must stay hydrated." WTF When you are thirsty, get a glass and turn the tap on.

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