u/HillbillyAllergy

Can't go. DM me and they're all yours.

Better hurry, doors in half an hour.

Dear Self-Indulgent Prick -

Forgive my curt nature as we traded an escalating series of insults and threats while in the long line at Trader Joe's yesterday. You unwittingly became the avatar of every single person who overplays their hand at "shop while you queue" when the TJ's line extends throughout the store.

While there are no hard and fast rules to shopping while waiting in line, I think we'd all agree that yes, it's absolutely permissible to abandon your cart or basket for the five-or-so seconds it takes to grab that bag of chicken tenders. We're with you, these lines can be borderline absurd. In a way, it makes more sense to shop this way as it cuts lane traffic down during the busy hours.

However, there is a big, arguably profound, difference between side-stepping ten feet to the vegan free-range curry cheesecake puffs and unceremoniously leaving the line to go one aisle over to look for something. And when that does happen? You just say to the person behind you, "hey, can you just push my cart for a second? I forgot something." Nine times out of ten, they'll be happy to help in the name of a more expedited, communal shopping experience.

But you weren't that guy. More than twice, you just walked off in search of some other, undetermined, predictably high-caloric snack food that, I assure you, your fat ass does not need. No note, no "BRB", just "oh, I wonder if they have chocolate covered chocolate two aisles away." In the time you were gone, confusion set in, people snaked the gap, even the "middle of the line" employee called it out.

So I did what arguably anybody in my position should do: I went around you. You're clearly not done shopping therefore are not ready to complete the transaction. That's fine - you do you - get what you need and THEN check out. I get it, some of us are better multitaskers than others. No judgement here.

When you returned and noticed that the guy who was behind you was now in front of you, you had some words. You accused me of 'cutting' and I replied "no, you left, and I went around an un-manned shopping cart." Clearly this was not something you were going to abide and I immediately got the distinct sense that everyone who knows you has suffered your terminal case of needing to be right about every single thing, every single time.

Except I'm not in your life. You're just "self-important Trader Joe's shopper #20398" to me. And as I said, today was not the day.

There were insults. There were threats. Tempers, indignance, and voices continued to rise. Those around us exchanged nervous glances as things escalated. Eventually, in the name of getting the final word, I stepped aside and beckoned you forward - humorously poking at the contents of your cart versus your husky frame. Yeah, I called you a gluttonous fat fuck out loud. I regret it somewhat.

Anyways, now that it's behind us (and I hope it is, you strike me as the sort of guy who'd carry the anger forward and take it out on some/anyone else), I hope there's no hard feelings.

But please, observe the unspoken rules of the road. The sooner we get all out of here, the closer you are to those delightful fudge brownie cookies.

Thanks for reading,

Self-righteous and indignant Trader Joe's shopper #2043958

I'm mid-field shopping and am looking at a few options in the 2-3k-ish range. They'll be sitting a little closer than as is ideal due to my space. Thing is, the horizontally-oriented ones dedicate the HF driver to be the inner-most to the listening position.

In my situation, that would have them firing high frequencies towards (to a certain amount) the back of my computer monitor. It doesn't make complete sense to me from a psychoacoustics standpoint that the HF should come from the centermost position.

So I guess the question is, has anyone just said, "eh, f it, they're my monitors and I'll put the drivers where I want?"

$2000 (down from $4000!) and these "vintage 1960's*" drums are all yours.

* those are definitely not from the 1960's