S P A C E !

Americans have a strong sense of personal space. There's plenty of room for all of us in this vast country so we like to spread out whenever possible. It's part of our history. Those 19th century pioneers settled the west because the prairies gave them the elbow room they craved.

That need for space is part of our cultural DNA. Notice the look on people's faces when they're jammed into a subway car or sitting bumper to bumper on the freeway. Watch a person take a step backward if someone stands too close during a conversation. And then there's that undefined distance we keep while waiting our turn at the ATM. We seem to innately know just how far that gap should be so as not to intrude on the banking privacy of another.

So why doesn't this sense of space carry over to the supermarket? I have shopping cart bruises on my ankles inflicted by people who feel their progress down the cereal aisle is a NASCAR event. Apparently, hunting for bargains on canned tuna can't be done while steering a grocery cart. So much for multi-tasking.

At the check out counter we covet our turn on the conveyor belt. It signals that the burden of grocery shopping is nearly at an end. But, may I remind you -- yes, you, the one bumping my butt with your grocery cart -- that I can only move as fast as the person in front of me. Unfortunately, that person has just realized he forgot an item, misplaced his discount grocery card and abandoned his children in the cookie aisle. So you -- yes, you, the one bumping my butt with your grocery cart -- should probably move to another lane where you can find a new butt to bump in a futile attempt to rush the process.

The guy in front of me is going nowhere soon -- so let me give him some space.