“What’s going on here?” the manager asked.
Frank opened his mouth, probably to start ranting again, but his wife cut him off. “Nothing,” she said quickly. “We were just leaving. Come on, Frank.”
She grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the exit. As they passed me, she paused for a second. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, not meeting my eyes.
Then they were gone, leaving a mess of cans and confused onlookers in their wake.
The manager turned to Miguel. “What happened?”
Miguel gave a quick rundown of events while I sat there, still processing what had just gone down. The manager shook his head, then turned to me.
“Ma’am, I’m so sorry for the disturbance. Are you alright?”
I nodded, finding my voice. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… wow. That was something else.”
He apologized again, then started organizing the cleanup. People began to disperse, but a few hung around to help pick up cans.
An older woman approached me, patting my arm. “You handled that so well, dear. Some people just don’t think before they speak.”
I smiled at her. “Thanks. I’m just glad it’s over.”
As the commotion died down, I decided to finish my shopping. No way was I letting Frank ruin my entire trip. I rolled down the next aisle, trying to shake off the residual tension.
“Hey,” a voice called out. I turned to see Miguel jogging up to me. “I just wanted to check if you’re really okay. That guy was way out of line.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks for stepping in. Does this kind of thing happen often?”
Miguel shook his head. “Not like that, no. But you’d be surprised how entitled some people can be. It’s like they forget basic human decency when they walk through the doors.”
We chatted for a bit as I continued shopping. Miguel shared some of his own customer service horror stories, which honestly made me feel a bit better. At least I wasn’t alone in dealing with difficult people.
As I reached for a box of cereal, my chair bumped into the shelf, knocking a few boxes to the floor.
“Oh, shoot,” I muttered, trying to figure out how to pick them up without tipping myself out of the chair.
“I got it,” Miguel said, quickly scooping up the boxes. But instead of just putting them back on the shelf, he handed one to me with a grin. “Consider this one on the house. A little compensation for your trouble today.”
I laughed. “Thanks, but you don’t have to do that.”
“I insist,” he said. “Besides, it’s the least we can do after… you know.”
I accepted the cereal, touched by the gesture. It wasn’t much, but it was a reminder that for every Frank in the world, there were people like Miguel too.
At the checkout, I found myself behind a mom with a curious little girl.
She pointed at my wheelchair. “Cool! Is that like a car?”
Her mom looked mortified. “Jenny! Don’t —”
But I laughed. “Kind of! Want to see how it works?”
I showed her the controls, and her eyes lit up. Her mom relaxed, giving me a grateful smile.
“That’s so awesome,” Little Jenny said. “When I grow up, I want one just like it!”
Her mom tensed again, but I just chuckled. “Well, hopefully you won’t need one. But they are pretty cool, aren’t they?”
As I left the store, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the whole experience. What a day. But you know what? For every Frank out there, there are way more decent folks — like Miguel, that nice older lady, and curious Tommy.
I headed home, my faith in humanity a little battered but still intact. And hey, at least I had a wild story to tell at my next game night. Plus, I got some free cereal out of the deal. Silver linings, right?
The whole drive home, I kept replaying the incident in my mind. Part of me wished I’d said more, stood up for myself more forcefully. But another part was proud of how I’d handled it. It’s not easy to keep your cool when someone’s yelling in your face, questioning your very real disability.
As I pulled into my driveway, I made a decision. Tomorrow, I’d call the store and commend Miguel for his help. Small acts of kindness deserve recognition, especially in a world that can sometimes seem so harsh.
I also decided to look into disability awareness programs in my area. Maybe I could volunteer, share my experiences, and help educate people. If I could prevent even one person from acting like Frank, it would be worth it.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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People like Mr Entitled get the wrong ideas from people like me. I have multiple disabilities effecting my need for a wheelchair. The one I use a wheelchair the most for is my MOGAD a rare disease with symptoms almost identical to multiple sclerosis. MOGAD attacks the melon in the brain like multiple sclerosis even but the cause is different. I walk into Walmart more or less normally my gate ( or walk) may by a little unusual but I’m over weight and fat people tend to waddle so you’d probably just assume I’m over weight. I then go straight to a wheelchair cart and drive off. Seeing this you’d think I was just fat and lazy. What you wouldn’t see is that your right I MIGHT be able to walk around the store today if it’s a good day but that’s only a maybe a lot of times when I try to walk around the store I get to the back and get to weak to continue sometimes I have enough strength to just leave without shopping, other times I have to seat any way I can including on the floor and rest before I get the strength back to just leave without completing my shopping, other days I may have severe muscle spasms so severe I’m stopped in the wheelchair leaning in weird angles looking like I’m going to fall out of the chair trying my best to be quiet and not disturb others with my cries of pain, unable to move on until the spasms pass, or other days one of my other disabilities may act up maybe today my gout will flare and each step I take will cause extreme pain.. If I go to the store 10 times and not use the wheelchair 8 of those times I’ll run into medical issues of some sort. So I take the wheelchair. I am fine to walk around my house and my yard, doctors want me to use a cane or walker for even that and I do on my bad days, I even use a a wheelchair at home on my real bad days but at home I am as independent as possible with my mobility. The longer I stand the more issues I have though so while I’m ok to walk into the store most days ( somedays I can’t even do that) I medically need the wheelchair to get around the store yet when people like Mr. Entitled see me they believe I’m faking and that leads to situations like told in this story.