Cleaning Up The World

I have never considered myself a Busy Body and certainly didn't ever think I was the pushy sort of person who constantly told people what they should or shouldn't be doing. But I'll tellya, the older I'm getting, the more I'm fitting into that category.

This week-end, I found myself trying to set some young people straight. Oh yes, for the past forty-something years, since being an adult, I've had to let some young folks know that their behavior needed to be changed. But the things I reprimanded kids for this week-end were things that under normal circumstances, should never be happening anyway.

We have a small store at the Landing where we sell bait and tackle, rent boats and motors and dispense snacks and drinks, particularly coffee and candy. There are usually two or three of us clerks behind the counter and at times we can get crowded with thirty or more people coming in to get their goodies at the same time. Needless to say, July is our busiest time of the year and a week-end is even busier. Our aim is to help our customers get their goods promptly and not have to wait.

There's usually a wait around the coffee counter, where customers draw their own cups of cocoa and coffee. This morning was cold and foggy and windy, so the crowd around the coffee was bigger than usual. Sometimes it's little kids that take more time to get their cocoa cups filled; other times, it's sleepy big people that just don't move very fast before they've had their first cup of coffee. But we try to keep the area clean and tidied up and above all, keep them moving! A young girl and her three brothers came in and began filling cups of cocoa. I was selling bait to another man and didn't look up at first, but then noticed a large down coat, nearly as big as a sleeping bag, spread out on the floor in front of the bait freezer.

"What's this?" I asked, stepping around the counter and picking up the coat. "Who dropped their coat?"

"Uh, it's mine!" the girl, about thirteen, said. She didn't bother to look around as she finished getting her cocoa.

"It doesn't belong on the floor!" I picked it up and put it on top of the bait freezer. "Somebody's going to trip on it."

The girl didn't say anything and in a few minutes, when she was done getting her cocoa, turned and picked it up. I gave her a hard look. I'm sure in her own home, the young girl might carelessly throw her coat on the floor if her mother wasn't telling her to pick it up. But in a public place? Is that something that is becoming a normal thing or am I just being a picky old lady?

Okay, now as far as picky old lady goes, yeah, I've become one! Yesterday, again with a crowd of summer visitors, I looked up from the counter and was aghast to find myself looking at the back of a fat teen-aged girl. Her jeans were loose and hanging half way down her bulging hips. Her panties were more than visible as well as a not very attractive butt crack. She was leaning over the bait freezer picking out crab bait with an equally sloppy young man, but at least his underwear or butt crack wasn't showing.

"Ma'am!" I yelled across the crowded room. "Ma'am!"

She didn't turn or acknowledge or even look up to see who I might be yelling at. Evidently, she hadn't been addressed as "Ma'am!" very often and certainly didn't think she was one.

"Young lady!" I changed my pitch. "Young lady!"

Again, she blithely ignored me, intent on the packages of mackerel in the freezer. Okay, then.... desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Hey, Girl! You! With the pants hanging down!"

Ah ha! I had her attention now. She turned around, her hair hanging lankly into her eyes. "Pull your pants up, Honey!" I hissed, as more customers turned to see what I was harping on. "Your undies are showing!"

She hitched them up and twitched her hips and they promptly sank back down. I guess a belt was out of the question. The boy with her slunk out the door leaving her to pay for the bait.

But I doubt my reprimand did any good. The girl was back this morning, with her pants hanging 'half-ass' off again. Only this time, it was so cold, she was wearing a long parka over the whole lot. Oh me! Guess I should keep my mouth shut. But the older I get, the more I think I need to get this ol' world in shape. One kid at a time.