I don't usually read your column; but there wasn't much news this past week, and I was bored on Sunday. I read the letter from a woman in line at the grocery store. Apparently, she got in line and was waiting for her husband to bring the cart. Another man arrived just after the woman, so the husband couldn't join his wife in line. The woman was upset that her husband wouldn't insist on moving ahead of the other man. You responded that she could have insisted, and spared her husband the embarrassment. Are you both crazy?
When you get in line at the grocery store, it is really your items that are in the queue. That's why the signs say "12 items or less," and why it's acceptable to leave your cart while you retrieve one last item. Since the bulk of her groceries had not arrived, the man behind this woman probably assumed that she was buying a pack of gum or stamps. Imagine his surprise when she asked him to make way for her huge cart of groceries. What an absurd request. Why would you encourage such rude behavior?
If a spouse is uncomfortable doing something like this, a polite partner will let it go. A respectful wife would definitely let it go. But this woman seems compelled to make her case and make it again. I can't imagine what it must be like to live with her. Proverbs 21:9 says "it is better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home." This is the woman that the verse is talking about. Instead of telling her how to get her way, you should have taken the opportunity to teach her about loving sacrifice.
-- ANNOYED IN WASHINGTON
