Just give me the money and John Barrowman! What the fuck is the matter with you?!

I think MM was eavesdropping on my brain today. Or, you know, most days.

On the other hand I like chatting with the people at Trader Joe's because they seem genuinely interested in whether I found everything and how my day is going.

Now if only my fellow shoppers would learn how to fucking USE THEM, I'd be golden.

I know! How are people so ... inept? And why do they seem determined to get in my way?

I feel airports should really be broken down into Traveler Types. I don't care if someone needs a lot of assistance and coddling, I don't. Just get out of my damn way. Give me self-serve kiosks and security lines where everyone knows the drill. Oh, and free wireless. But that's not really part of this point.

I've not much had that experience in checkouts and I've lived my whole life in the south. In fact, the only time I really can say it's happened is when it's a local rural store or neighborhood store, and then it's just catching up with neighbors.

Also, this. I mean, when I go to my local hardware store they have the same cashiers as when I was a carpenter over a decade ago, and they remember me. Which I think is very cool. And sometimes the cashiers at my coop will compliment something I'm wearing or something. And I've been known to get into conversations at the vintage store, or have a funny exchange at a coffee shop. But convenience or big box stores, nsm.

I feel airports should really be broken down into Traveler Types.

They are! Kinda. Haven't you seen the three lines that are like "Expert Traveler," "Regular Traveler," "Stupid Fucking N00b Traveler," or whatever?

I feel airports should really be broken down into Traveler Types.

Midway is. It sort of works sometimes. Once, though, I was in the Expert Traveler line in back of a SUPER drunk guy who stopped in the line to try to put his cowboy boots back on. hilarious but also irritating because it took so freaking long.

Haven't you seen the three lines that are like "Expert Traveler," "Regular Traveler," "Stupid Fucking N00b Traveler," or whatever?

I've seen the signs. I've never seen anyone admit that they aren't expert. Because they think that the expert line will be *faster* for them. And, no, it won't. Because THEY are now in it.

I've not much had that experience in checkouts and I've lived my whole life in the south. In fact, the only time I really can say it's happened is when it's a local rural store or neighborhood store, and then it's just catching up with neighbors.

I mean it's not something you're likely to run into at Kroger or Target or something.

Interesting. When I was in New Orleans, I would get that pretty frequently at drugstores and convenience stores and places like that. I don't remember it happening too often at grocery stores, but I didn't really go to grocery stores that much.

Interesting. When I was in New Orleans, I would get that pretty frequently at drugstores and convenience stores and places like that.

Those are neighborhood stores by nature. People don't drive out to another neighborhood to go to a convenience store, so it's likely the same people all the time.

Even here, the 7-11 several blocks up is our neighborhood convenience store, and lord knows those people know when I'm out of coffee at the house, when Jon and I are hungover, sometimes even when we've had a fight (one of my ways to have us both calm down until we can listen to each other is to go to that store, nose around and maybe get an icee and a trash magazine).

MM, you totally have to pitch to the Beeb. And I want to sit in on the meeting.

So it's not Americans, it's non-Southern/Western Americans.

That's pretty much what The Girl just said when she called and I relayed Shir's comment. She says Houston, where she (partly) grew up, is nothing like New York. Most of my experience of the US is of New York. So I may be generalizing far too widely.

But we Brits take politeness to a whole other level of repression.