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To the guy I cut off in the Kroger parking lot in 2018 | Apology Letters Unsent - Thought Shares

To the guy I cut off in the Kroger parking lot in 2018

You were loading groceries with your kid in the cart, and I was in a rush to get home. I zipped into the spot next to you, way too close. You just looked at me, shook your head, and said 'Man, you got the whole lot.' I mumbled sorry but it wasn't enough. I think about that a lot now when I'm the one with the cart full of kids. It was just pure thoughtlessness on my part. Anyone else have a tiny moment like that that just sticks with you for years?

4 comments

4 Comments

seth_singh204mo ago

@victorh81 had a great point about that quiet calm line just sitting in the air. What makes "you got the whole lot" stick with me is how it perfectly shows that the smallest inconvenience isn't actually an inconvenience at all. That guy had a full cart and a kid, and he still took two seconds to teach me a lesson about perspective. Kind of like how that uncle's certainty got popped with a sentence, sometimes the biggest reality check comes wrapped in the most everyday package. In my experience, those moments hit hardest because they feel so ordinary until they're suddenly not.

kelly.hannah6mo ago

you got the whole lot" is such a quiet, perfect way to call someone out. what do you think made it stick with you so long, like more than other small regrets?

emmaclark6mo ago

It's the kind of line that just sits there, totally calm, and makes the other person's whole argument fall apart. My friend once said "you seem very sure" to a guy mansplaining, and it had the same deadly quiet effect. Those little phrases carry so much weight because they're so hard to argue against.

victorh816mo ago

My buddy was at a family dinner and his uncle went on this rant about "kids these days." After like five minutes of it, my friend just looked at him and said "you sound very certain about that." The whole table got quiet. The uncle just sort of mumbled and changed the subject. It was like all the air went out of his balloon with one calm sentence. Those moments really stick with you.