Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[JoW]

I went shopping yesterday.  My purchases included 3 small bags of Christmas bows, two 3-box bundles of facial tissues, and quite a few smaller items.  I brought my own bags which are not all the same size.  When I was ready to pay I put my purchases on the counter with the bags laid near them, each bag near a suitable cluster of items.  The bows were at the end, near a smaller bag because they need to be separate from heavier stuff to keep them from being crushed.  The facial tissues were next-to-last because the bundles are big enough that I was planning to not bag them.   The small items were near the front, near my biggest bag to keep them all together because they were all going to the same part of my house.

The clerk grabbed my biggest bag then reached to the back and put the facial tissues in it.  OK, that’s not a disaster.  Then she started to put the fragile bows in that bag, beside the tissues, where the bows were certain to be crushed when the bag was picked up.  I grabbed the bows, telling the clerk I wanted the bows bagged separately so they wouldn’t get crushed.  At that point the clerk gave up on bagging and I had to do it myself.  The small items ended up spread out over 3 small bags. 

Apparently “I don’t want the bows to be crushed” made the clerk’s brain hurt. 

[Elfmama]

"Please do not bag the milk" apparently is a brain-hurty phrase, since almost every male bagger I've said it to over the last 40 years looks like I drop-kicked him and has had to confirm it.  Adult female baggers merely nod in understanding.  What's not to understand? The jug of milk has a handle.  It's easier to carry the jug by the handle than it is to carry it in a plastic bag.

[Mental Magpie]

"Please do not bag the milk" apparently is a brain-hurty phrase, since almost every male bagger I've said it to over the last 40 years looks like I drop-kicked him and has had to confirm it.  Adult female baggers merely nod in understanding.  What's not to understand? The jug of milk has a handle.  It's easier to carry the jug by the handle than it is to carry it in a plastic bag.

That may or may not rip, depending on a slurry of unknown factors.

[KenveeB]

"Please do not bag the milk" apparently is a brain-hurty phrase, since almost every male bagger I've said it to over the last 40 years looks like I drop-kicked him and has had to confirm it.  Adult female baggers merely nod in understanding.  What's not to understand? The jug of milk has a handle.  It's easier to carry the jug by the handle than it is to carry it in a plastic bag.

I have my own shopping bags. The regular ones are purple, the insulated ones are black. I tell the baggers, "The cold stuff goes in the black bags" and they say "okay." But apparently they have a different definition of "cold stuff" than I do. Today I got the tuna in the insulated bags and all the produce in the regular ones.

[BabyMama]

I was in the supermarket, looking for, among other things, shallots. Since "shallot" means different thing in different countries, I'll specify that I wanted these things, what Americans call "shallots."


I went to the shallot bin, but it was blocked by a young couple. The woman was selecting shallots. Since I wasn't in a hurry I waited for them to finish.
Man: That's a lot of shallots. Do we need that many?
Woman: The recipe calls for 6 shallots.
Man: Wait a minute. Doesn't it say 6 scallions?
Woman: Scallions, shallots, they are the same thing. [they walk off]

It took a minute for it to hit me. If the recipe calls for 6 scallions (green onions, spring onions) and she is going to use 6 shallots, it just might be a very interesting outcome, especially if the scallions were to be minced & used as a garnish. 

(In the US, "shallot" never means "green onions," and the young woman's accent was in no way Australian.)

I shopped with these people a few weeks ago. A husband and wife team were in the produce section and she was berating him every step of the way. She was ragging on him pretty heavily when he couldn't find the zucchini. He looked and looked and even asked an employee. Finally she huffed, "What have you been doing? They're right HERE!!" and grabbed several of what she thought were zucchini. Then she stalked off, the poor man trailing in her wake.

Unfortunately for her, they were cucumbers. I really wonder what she was making and how it turned out...

[Coruscation]

^^^ I never said he was a SS.  IMO, he was just very irresponsible to go to a gun range with little or no experience and as he was removed, the business thought so as well.  Rules are posted.

This range does allow you to shoot their weapons and will assist you in doing so, but this man was using his own firearm....in which case, he needed to know at least the basics before ever coming there. 

Someone like that is a danger to himself and to others on a range.  He had zero business being there without, at least, another person who was experienced or taking a safety class and beginner class.

I know nothing about gun ownership but if I decided to take up the sport, I would assume that a gun range would be the place to go. I might in fact buy a gun and go to the range which I would assume would be a good place to get lessons or experience.

Nothing you have written shows me that the man was anything other than inexperienced at gun ownership and trying to gain some practice in a safe environment.

If the rules were posted, why was he allowed onto the range in the first place, don't they do a licence check or something?

Possibly it seems obvious to you as an experienced gun owner but to me his actions seem fine. I'd go to a gun range long before I'd start playing with an unfamiliar gun in my house.

[Twik]

Well, if she meant she thought Stoker was writing nonfiction, yes, that's brain hurty. But if she just meant that Stoker wrote scary vampires like the ones from older folklore, and Meyer's are much more toned down, then she's on to something! 

I agree, if she meant "real" as in "reflecting the original folklore of the area where Vlad Tepes once lived," her comment makes sense.

[Luci45]

I went shopping yesterday.  My purchases included 3 small bags of Christmas bows, two 3-box bundles of facial tissues, and quite a few smaller items.  I brought my own bags which are not all the same size.  When I was ready to pay I put my purchases on the counter with the bags laid near them, each bag near a suitable cluster of items.  The bows were at the end, near a smaller bag because they need to be separate from heavier stuff to keep them from being crushed.  The facial tissues were next-to-last because the bundles are big enough that I was planning to not bag them.   The small items were near the front, near my biggest bag to keep them all together because they were all going to the same part of my house.

The clerk grabbed my biggest bag then reached to the back and put the facial tissues in it.  OK, that’s not a disaster.  Then she started to put the fragile bows in that bag, beside the tissues, where the bows were certain to be crushed when the bag was picked up.  I grabbed the bows, telling the clerk I wanted the bows bagged separately so they wouldn’t get crushed.  At that point the clerk gave up on bagging and I had to do it myself.  The small items ended up spread out over 3 small bags. 

Apparently “I don’t want the bows to be crushed” made the clerk’s brain hurt.

I line items like that, and once a clerk went over the belt and grabbed all of my bags. Sigh. I also had to remind her that I had them lined up that way so that the meat and produce were put into washable bags. "Why?" Oh, my! Then she still tried to put the meat in plastic bags.

Now the first thing I say is, "Please bag them as I have them lined up." One clerk told me she wished everyone did that. Some just look at me but try to do it my way.

I do wish I could just bag my own as they come down the belt, but none of my stores work that way.

[Elfmama]

^^^ I never said he was a SS.  IMO, he was just very irresponsible to go to a gun range with little or no experience and as he was removed, the business thought so as well.  Rules are posted.

This range does allow you to shoot their weapons and will assist you in doing so, but this man was using his own firearm....in which case, he needed to know at least the basics before ever coming there. 

Someone like that is a danger to himself and to others on a range.  He had zero business being there without, at least, another person who was experienced or taking a safety class and beginner class.

I know nothing about gun ownership but if I decided to take up the sport, I would assume that a gun range would be the place to go. I might in fact buy a gun and go to the range which I would assume would be a good place to get lessons or experience.

Nothing you have written shows me that the man was anything other than inexperienced at gun ownership and trying to gain some practice in a safe environment.

If the rules were posted, why was he allowed onto the range in the first place, don't they do a licence check or something?

Possibly it seems obvious to you as an experienced gun owner but to me his actions seem fine. I'd go to a gun range long before I'd start playing with an unfamiliar gun in my house.

Given your spelling of 'license', I'm going to assume that you are non-US.  In the US, possession of a gun license only authorizes you to buy a gun.  It means that the authorities have run a background check on you and there is nothing to prohibit your owning a gun (things like conviction of a felony would deny you the license.)  You do not have to take any sort of classes on gun safety and maintenance in order to get the license, or demonstrate any knowledge of same.

However, I do agree with you that the gentleman in question probably thought that such things were taught at the gun range, or that they could tell him where to take them.

[jedikaiti]

^^^ I never said he was a SS.  IMO, he was just very irresponsible to go to a gun range with little or no experience and as he was removed, the business thought so as well.  Rules are posted.

This range does allow you to shoot their weapons and will assist you in doing so, but this man was using his own firearm....in which case, he needed to know at least the basics before ever coming there. 

Someone like that is a danger to himself and to others on a range.  He had zero business being there without, at least, another person who was experienced or taking a safety class and beginner class.

I know nothing about gun ownership but if I decided to take up the sport, I would assume that a gun range would be the place to go. I might in fact buy a gun and go to the range which I would assume would be a good place to get lessons or experience.

Nothing you have written shows me that the man was anything other than inexperienced at gun ownership and trying to gain some practice in a safe environment.

If the rules were posted, why was he allowed onto the range in the first place, don't they do a licence check or something?

Possibly it seems obvious to you as an experienced gun owner but to me his actions seem fine. I'd go to a gun range long before I'd start playing with an unfamiliar gun in my house.

Given your spelling of 'license', I'm going to assume that you are non-US.  In the US, possession of a gun license only authorizes you to buy a gun.  It means that the authorities have run a background check on you and there is nothing to prohibit your owning a gun (things like conviction of a felony would deny you the license.)  You do not have to take any sort of classes on gun safety and maintenance in order to get the license, or demonstrate any knowledge of same.

However, I do agree with you that the gentleman in question probably thought that such things were taught at the gun range, or that they could tell him where to take them.

Personally, if that were the case, I would hope that one would think ahead enough to ask for assistance on arrival or even call ahead. I would not expect someone to go onto the range, try to do it themselves, and only after trying and failing, to ask for help on the spot. There are plenty of things that it's perfectly OK to try to DIY before asking for help - anything involving a deadly weapon is not on that list.

[RooRoo]

The man makes my brain hurt. Would you want to be on the freeway next to a vehicle being "driven" by someone whose entire knowledge of driving was that you point the car with the steering wheel, and make it go with the gas pedal? That's what we shooters feel when confronted by someone like that.

Anyone who doesn't know the 4 rules of gun safety* should not be anywhere near one. Chances are that guy didn't. If you don't know how to load your gun, you don't know how to make sure it is unloaded. If you don't know that, you (and those around you) are not safe.

*http://thefiringline.com/Misc/safetyrules.html

[ica171]

The man makes my brain hurt. Would you want to be on the freeway next to a vehicle being "driven" by someone whose entire knowledge of driving was that you point the car with the steering wheel, and make it go with the gas pedal? That's what we shooters feel when confronted by someone like that.

Anyone who doesn't know the 4 rules of gun safety* should not be anywhere near one. Chances are that guy didn't. If you don't know how to load your gun, you don't know how to make sure it is unloaded. If you don't know that, you (and those around you) are not safe.

*http://thefiringline.com/Misc/safetyrules.html

Slightly OT: woohoo, I knew the four safety rules! Probably a good thing, given that I grew up around guns and have shot one before (though not in years).

[Piratelvr1121]

We always get asked at our store if we want the milk in bags. I used to say yes, but since their bags are a bit flimsy I've just started saying no, and they don't have a problem with it.

[Seven Ate Nine]

^^^ I never said he was a SS.  IMO, he was just very irresponsible to go to a gun range with little or no experience and as he was removed, the business thought so as well.  Rules are posted.

This range does allow you to shoot their weapons and will assist you in doing so, but this man was using his own firearm....in which case, he needed to know at least the basics before ever coming there. 

Someone like that is a danger to himself and to others on a range.  He had zero business being there without, at least, another person who was experienced or taking a safety class and beginner class.

I know nothing about gun ownership but if I decided to take up the sport, I would assume that a gun range would be the place to go. I might in fact buy a gun and go to the range which I would assume would be a good place to get lessons or experience.

Nothing you have written shows me that the man was anything other than inexperienced at gun ownership and trying to gain some practice in a safe environment.

If the rules were posted, why was he allowed onto the range in the first place, don't they do a licence check or something?

Possibly it seems obvious to you as an experienced gun owner but to me his actions seem fine. I'd go to a gun range long before I'd start playing with an unfamiliar gun in my house.

In addition to what Elfmama said, if you are have never done any shooting before, but are looking to get into it you should actually go to the range and try their guns out first.  Pretty much any online resource that I have looked at suggests this.  All guns (well, all manufacturers) are slightly different, and what works for the guy next to you might not be very comfortable for you.  If you are walking into a range with your own gun and haven't ever shot any gun at all before - and if you don't understand how the magazine works you probably haven't - then you're going about the whole thing backwards.

*** DH shoots competitively, and I have previously as well.  I have seen and used the magazines for many different guns.  They all function pretty much the same way, so I don't really believe that he's shot before but this gun's magazine is so vastly different that it doesn't make sense.

[MariaE]

Well, if she meant she thought Stoker was writing nonfiction, yes, that's brain hurty. But if she just meant that Stoker wrote scary vampires like the ones from older folklore, and Meyer's are much more toned down, then she's on to something! 

I agree, if she meant "real" as in "reflecting the original folklore of the area where Vlad Tepes once lived," her comment makes sense.

That's true. It the context it did sound more like she meant "the vampires from the older folklore were real", (so not that Stoker's Dracula was real, but that it was based on a true story), but it might be better to give her the benefit of doubt.