Sunday, September 7, 2008

Beware of Flying Shopping Carts

I usually don't have much to say about my weekends because, quite frankly, they aren't very interesting. A regular weekend for me usually involves cleaning the house, talking to my mother on the phone, and cooking a large amount of food that will result in leftovers throughout the week. Really riveting stuff.

But this weekend, do I have a story for you.

On Saturday, I decided to take a trip to Ralphs for some groceries. As I was in the canned goods aisle, searching for the most cost-effective chicken broth, I saw a man walking towards me. He was middle-aged, pushing an empty shopping cart, and talking loudly to himself. The "talking loudly to himself" should have been an indication that something bizarre was about to occur.

From about fifteen feet away, the man made direct eye contact with me, and then proceeded to shove his shopping cart and forcefully launch it from his hands. DIRECTLY AT ME. You read that correctly: a shopping cart was flung at me in the middle of a grocery store.

Luckily I was far enough that I was able to dive out of the way, unhurt.

I was in shock, as you might imagine. But I was more shocked when Crazy Man asked me, "Where's the tomatoes?," as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. By this time he was about three feet away from me, causing my internal alarms to go off. "Get away from me," I said with all the threat I could muster. He then started shouting expletives at me, attracting the attention of other people in the store.

I ran to the first Ralphs employee I could find, and told him that a man was assaulting customers in the store, and maybe they should DO something about that. They ended up escorting him out of the store. Thinking back, the police really should have been called.

So there you go. I was assaulted by a guy with a shopping cart in Ralphs. I have lived in the inner-city of Los Angeles for nine years, and have some pretty strange things. But this one really wins first place.

And yes, I realize this is the second post in a row about strange encounters with random men. What can I say? I am a weirdo magnet.

23 comments:

  1. That is SO strange. I can't imagine what I would have done in such a situation. Wow - maybe he was drunk?

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  2. pupule....LA style. Did he stink with urine too?

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  3. Weeeird. I have never seen anyone throw a shopping cart like that.

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  4. Dude, that is seriously bizarre!! I'm glad you didn't get hurt, but yes, they definitely should have called the cops on that guy.

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  5. Yikes! That's sounds sort of scary. I'm glad you were okay though!

    (I will think of this story every time I'm in a grocery store now.)

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  6. Wow! That's crazy! I'm glad you weren't hit by the shopping cart!

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  7. Wow! we've got some crazies in DC, but never has anything been thrown/flung towards me.

    glad it didn't escalate any further :)

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  8. You should totally shop at Vons instead :)

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  9. okay that is so incredibly weird. last night when i was at vons some really drunk people were walking around screaming explicatives and went straight to the liquor aisle...yeah someone should have stopped them too, haha.

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  10. You really are a weirdo magnet. Glad you weren't hurt!

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  11. Okay, that is absolutely insane!!! I would have been totally freaked out. Either that I would've pushed the shopping cart right back at him... :)

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  12. I can totally see you telling the guy to get away from you, haha.

    So.......

    Where are the tomatoes...?

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  13. I'm glad you were okay! I'm impressed with your street smarts and quick thinking. Good job, city sister.

    Maybe you should get some mace?

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  14. You know, I can understand that the tomato recall would possibly cause some people due stress, but to hurl shopping carts?

    That guy is totally deserving of a truckload of rotten, salmonella-tainted tomatoes thrown at him. Booooooooooooooo!!!!

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  15. DUDE! WTF? How's he gonna do that and then ask you where something is? What a freak!

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  16. Wow! Some people are so strange! I'm glad you made it out unhurt though.

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  17. Sounds like someone didn't take their meds.

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  18. What a story! Glad you got help, and hope he did, too. Sounds like he needed it.

    I really believe that strange weekends are often the best. Glad yours worked out :)

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  19. I could totally see this happening where I work....crazy people everywhere!

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  20. Geez, that sounds like almost every day I get lunch in Santa Monica. You should see the crazies here...

    There are the garden variety ones, and then there are the total nut-job ones. There was a guy who overheard my conversation with my co-worker about a movie and chimed in for a 15 second walk-and-talk. But as soon as he split, he started repeating our entire conversation to himself... really really loud, until he could steal some one else's conversation all over again.

    Points for uniqueness, though.

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  21. hello

    http://petamasadepan.blogspot.com

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  22. how freaky.....did you tell him where the tomatos were?!!

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  23. That's scary. And funny. I am sorry, I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, but looking back, if this was something that happened to someone else wouldn't it cause a laugh? A giggle? A chuckle? Glad you are ok - I hope you managed to do your grocery shopping anyway ;-)

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