Are you communicating?

I want to thank Sonya again for the book; The 5 love languages. It was an awesome book and I do believe that it has improved the communication in our house. It was about all kinds of communication and not just “love” languages. After reading the book, I realized that perhaps I wasn’t getting my messages out in other areas of my life as well. I have also applied some of the concepts at work with positive results. I think that the book would do a lot of people some good.

The other day I dropped by the grocery store on my way home from work. There is a Publix that I pass so it is an easy place to stop for a few items. I like this Publix because it is clean, neat and it has nice wide aisles. I only needed one thing (bottled water) so I made a beeline for the water aisle when I entered the store. I knew, pending any unforeseen delays, I would be in and out in a matter of a few minutes. As I passed the registers, there were four young people standing in the middle of the aisle near the checkout registers. There were two boys and two girls and they were in their lower 20’s.

They were chatting and laughing and it appeared like they came from and were returning to the beach. I know this because they were all in bathing suits and their hair looked like it had been wet. Each of the boys was carrying two cases of beer and I assumed they were trying to invite the girls to a party or something like that.

It only took a moment to get my water and return to the checkout lines. I passed them one by one trying to decide which one would be faster. There were at least two people in each line until I came to the one closest to the 4 people talking. There was only one girl in that line and she was just about done checking out. The four were still talking and laughing and I stood there for a few seconds waiting on them to start checking out. One of the guys glared at me for looking at them so I turned my attention toward the checkout line. The last person in that line was finishing up and getting her change so I walked into the line and put my two jugs of water on the conveyor.

As I was greeting the checkout girl one of the guys who had been standing in the aisle said in a loud and condescending voice; “Excuse me, what do you think you are doing?” I replied “checking out.” (I can be a smart you know what when I want to be) He then made some comment about being in line to which I replied; “How was I to know, you were just standing there in the aisle and this line was empty.” By this time the girl had finished ringing up my water and I was handing her the money. Now the guys still didn’t have their four cases of beer on the conveyor and one was still saying goodbye to the girls. In a loud voice, the other guy said; “Whatever.” I simply smiled and left the store. Sometimes saying nothing is the best way to communicate.

Have a great day,
Greg