Dear Old Guy That Insulted Me at the Store for Not Carrying My GF’s Groceries

Come along for a tale of thinly-veiled sexism!

This past Friday, my ladyfriend and I had to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things for a game night we were going to. One of the items was an avocado, because we are trying to be good Millenials. We were running a little late, so I dropped her off at the front of the store while I parked the car.

After parking the car and heading inside the store, I meet up with her and see that she has gotten the avocados that we needed, as well as a 6-pack of Coke and a box of Little Debbie snack cakes. Did I need to say the brand names of those things? Probably not, but I'm not above getting some Little Debbie snack cakes sent to my office for the mention, I ain't gonna be mad.

Anyway, as we are walking to the self-checkout, because we're very anxious people and hate interacting with strangers, a stranger interacts with us. An old man, who looks like when the Titanic sank, he was already in his 60's, approaches us. He aggressively says "Hey!" as he blocks our path. Seeing as we were shopping at a place that rhymes with "Balhart," this could mean any number of things. This living-mummy once again says "Hey," and we finally respond with "Huh?" He then asks "Is his hand broken?" We respond again with "Huh?" because we weren't sure what was happening. He asks the same question again, and then it clicks: He's shaming me because I'm not carrying the groceries for my girlfriend.

OK, I get the sentiment. I do. Guys are supposed to be polite and a gentleman at all times. However, don't go in making assumptions about me just because I'm not carrying the less-than 2lbs of groceries, especially after I was just gentlemanly as f*** by dropping her off at the door. I just find it completely rude to approach someone you don't know and be a smartass about something like that. It's also super insulting to my girlfriend by insinuating that she's incapable of carrying her own stuff just because she's a woman. My girlfriend can do a ton of more stuff than me, she barely needs me for anything in regards to feats of strength.

And I'm not saying we should start loading up ladies like burros hiking a mountain, but at least respect their agency if they decide to carry their own damn groceries. Granted, trying to explain equality or feminism to Nosferatu probably would have been a fruitless endeavor, but the message is still clear: women are fully capable of doing things on their own. And if somehow this guy stumbles on to this article, despite the warnings of the internet being modern-day witchcraft, I hope that he knows that he is the worst and should at least attempt to update what he believes to be appropriate in his interactions with others.