This post actually isn't about Anam ... hard to believe but true! I talk about he and I a lot and not so much about "why" I need a service dog and the things I go through as a Disabled Person. I think that's just as important as what all we do for training. This is just sort of a rant about my grocery store trip today that I want to share. I guess you could call it a Pet Peeve that people don't consider how hard they are making life for the people who really do need the equipment meant for the handicapped customers... it's not for entertainment. I would do just about anything not to Need a handicap parking place or that motorized scooter to shop with and to just be "Normal" again. Anyway... A little insight to what it's like from a Handicap point of view.
I'm really frustrated tonight. This weather has been murder on me and my spine. Today is the first day I've been able to get out (after chipping the car out of ice) and I really needed to go to the grocery store (I didn't believe the weather man when he said it was going to be bad... it's usually a lie) I go to one grocery store and they had cleared ONE handicapped spot which was taken. The rest of the empty parking places were icy and I was not going to fall! So I go to the other grocery store... parking lot cleared which was great and open handicap spots! Go in and no scooter carts. Great... have to walk it. OK.. deep breath... I can do this. I head off using the cart to support me. In the bread aisle there's a lady on a scooter laughing with her daughter about not feeling like walking and her daughter being "totally embarrassed". That's fine... what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. I keep going, hobbling along, through produce where a lady literally gets "huffy" because I guess I was too slow and almost hit me with her cart as she went around me muttering "my God!"... I let it go. At this point I'm starting to sweat which is my indication I'm hurting but I don't have a choice, I HAVE to get stuff! Anam is OUT of food and the other critters need veggies and I have been eating some weird stuff because I've been throwing together bits and pieces of what I had left. Deep breath! Remember, Bad Heath Care in Prison! Head over to the other aisles and there are 2 teenage boys "taking turns" on a scooter cart. There's a loaf of bread in the basket and one of them does have crutches and his knee in a brace... he's not the one on the scooter. "Mom" stops at the end of the aisle and tells them if they are done playing to come on she's ready to go and has a basket full of stuff. They hurry off, kid on crutches still not on the scooter. I get my soy butter and another deep breath. 2 more aisles with some lady not paying attention and actually hit me in the butt kind of hard and then said "Excuse You!" I replied with "I didn't realize I was in your way Your Highness being in front of you and all." She looked offended, she should have been because that was the Nice version of what I wanted to say. Now I'm starting to shake along with the sweating. I'm almost scared to let go of the cart for fear of falling. My cane is in the cart but it won't really help at this point, my legs are too weak and my back is hurting too bad. Ms. Hateful goes on. I keep going and realize my left foot isn't lifting all the way up. Here comes Mom and Daughter with Daughter hiding her face because Mom is being silly and still embarrassing her. Great! Next aisle. Reading labels (I have tons of allergies) Ms. Hateful again comes close and mumbles something. I mumble back "Not today lady, Not Today!" she looks at me and says in a hateful voice, hand on hip "Excuse Me?" and I look up from the label and don't even say a word and she changes it from a question to a statement... "oh, excuse me" very nicely. Not sure the look on my face but I think it may have been scary. Back to the label and figuring best price. Dad and son come up aisle, dad on scooter, son pushing cart. Dad runs into my cart, cart bumps me, I lose my balance that I didn't really have and start to go down because nothing is working right to help catch myself. Son is a super hero and some how makes it past dad and the cart, around my cart, behind me and catches me before I do much more than a hard lean and a squeak. (He looks to be in his mid 20's) I'm still waiting to hit the floor when I hear "Oh my God! Are you ok?" The dad feels awful because it's his first time driving a scooter (ice injury, broken ankle) and swears to surrender his license. I explained he didn't hit me that hard and my situation and thank the son 100 times for being so quick on his feet. We talk briefly about why it's so important not to take handicap spots and the motorized scooters if you don't need them and the dad says he feels guilty using the scooter. I tell him he Needs it with a broken ankle and we discuss the several other people they have seen "playing" while they have been there. We say goodbye and I hug the son for saving me. I'm almost done, just a few more aisles left. I've almost made it! Another near miss from Ms. Hateful but got an apology (I really wish I knew what the look was, I think it would come in handy from time to time) Saw an elderly man and an elderly lady on scooters and I'm pretty sure the were racing each other subconsciously, and if it hadn't hurt to stand there I would have watched longer. Cream cheese and eggs, then the check out. Dodge 3 separate employees who just didn't pay any attention to where they were going and I almost ran into them. Check out! My favorite cashier guy! He makes a comment about me not being in the scooter and being ghost white. I tell him there wasn't any when I came in. His comment "Yeah, they manager doesn't care who uses them so a lot of people who need them don't have them." Great! I'll be addressing that later. New bag boy... everything is smushed. Don't even care at this point, just want to sit down in the car. The cashier guy puts my 1/2 price kit kats in a separate bag and tells me I look like I need them first thing when I get in the car... he's right! I sit there for a minute and eat a kit kat waiting for the spasm to stop so I can drive. I watch 3 cars park or pull out of handicap spots that are obviously not handicapped because they are either running into the store or from the store to the car. If you can run, you can park a few spaces down. And that's in the amount of time it takes to eat 2 mini sized kit kats. That's one trip to the store. What happened to nice people? Considerate people? I would love to say "Oh they just don't raise them like they used to" but that's not it because it was all ages, all races, didn't matter. Our world is rude. Today it really bothered me.
Sorry to ramble on so much but it did get to me. My pain level is sky high now because I had to push myself to make it through. Could I have turned and left instead of shopping... yes. But I needed those things badly and I had no one else and no other way to get them. Had a few people just stop and been considerate it would have been ok. I'm proud of myself for making it through, I'm pretty tough when I need to be but the price I end up paying for the next couple of days will be pretty high. But I'm disappointed in what our society seems to be becoming.
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