I was running errands yesterday and one of them was at the local automotive parts store. I needed a replacement bulb for a tail light. As I waited at the customer service counter for help, a man around my age came up to wait alongside me. After a moment he asked me if he could be served ahead of me because he only needed one thing. I told him I only needed one thing, but I wasn't in a hurry and he could go first. Then, as we waited some more, I got pissed. When an employee came up to the adjacent counter closest to me and asked if 'you folks' have been helped (I guess he assumed we were together), I said no and walked over and asked for the part I needed. It took about a minute and I was off to pay and out the door before man who wanted to butt in line.
It got me thinking about how some/many men think about womens' time. My day has the same number of minutes that his does, but this guy seemed to think his time was more valuable than mine. It pissed me off. We all have a limited number of minutes in our lifetime and any one could be our last. I often let the person with only a couple of items go ahead of me at the grocery store when I have a cartload of stuff. I give strangers a few of my life minutes all the time. Do I ask strangers for their precious life minutes? Not on purpose. I think they are mine to give, but not for a stranger to ask for as a matter of course.
I'm thinking I'm sounding selfish and petty, maybe it was a 'you had to be there' moment, but this wasn't the first time a man seemed to feel entitled to be first. Has this happened to you?
