Conversations in the Supermarket

FD and Mr. FD were at the supermarket today, as they are every Saturday.  Actually, at two supermarkets, but that is another story.

At the supermarket, FD met someone FD and Mr. FD are having dinner with tomorrow night.  That was a brief conversation and everyone simply moved on.  But a few minutes later, in the soup aisle, an old and seldom seen acquaintance appeared.  Someone FD really likes.  So, of course, there was a fairly lengthly conversation, though not completely unlike many other conversations going on around us.  It’s not a big city, and one often runs into friends and acquaintances.

But, what was interesting was that, after all, one is trying to buy the weekly groceries, and it’s a task one does want to get on with.  And of course one doesn’t want to impede anyone else’s completion of the task.  So, after a few minutes of happy chat, FD and Mr. FD continued on, as did the friend.  Usually that would be the end of the event.  But today, all the participants ended up a few minutes later sharing another aisle.  At which point the friend made a good joke about “shadowing” FD and Mr. FD (well, it was funny at the time).  This is not what happens in most other situations.  Ordinarily, if you meet a friend out in the world while doing errands, you may have a happy chat and move on AND YOU WON”T SEE THE PERSON AGAIN.  But in the confines of the supermarket, multiple meetings, or at least passings, aren’t unusual.  And yet, FD isn’t sure what is the etiquette, or even the common custom, for such meetings???

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