People in Small Towns Love to Take Their Time

Yesterday, my wife and I visited some friends, who live in a really small town.  But, we first had to stop at their local Wal-Mart to pick up a birthday cake.  That's when we noticed just how "not in a hurry" anyone was.  When we first pulled into the parking lot and were driving down the first row of parking space, a lady walked right in front of us, then she stopped, and then about 5 seconds later, she turned around and saw us waiting for her.  But, instead of doing the normal thing and gesturing a wave of apology and moving out of the way, she simply turned back around and proceeded to finish her crossing of that parking lot row.

Well, we didn't find any parking spot on that row, so we proceeded to another row, where we found an open space.  Only, we had to wait again for this younger fellow, who was walking with the traffic and who actually turned around and saw us waiting.  The problem was that he then turned back around and walked at a 45 degree angle to his truck, which clogged up the traffic for probably 30 seconds.  Again, no wave or "sorry" from him, he just faced his truck and walked slowly to it.

Maybe we've been living in the "fast lane" society for too long, but even though we do let pedestrians cross the street in front of us or we hold a door for someone, those instances yesterday really brought us back in time, I guess.  I guess all I really wanted from the two jaywalkers were a simple "sorry" gesture or a little get-up in their step as they completed their crossing.