Last night at the grocery store

So last night after working until 9 PM again I get home and realize that the rolls I knew I had in my cabinet to make sloppy Joe's were moldy. So as soon as Kate pulled in I left in her car to get new ones. I make my way to the WaWa and of course, no rolls. I go to Superfresh slightly irritated and grab rolls. As I walk the isle towards the cash register there is an Indian man in front of me pushing one of those double wide racing car shopping karts. His child is hanging off the side in a standing position screaming with excitement like an animal. I think to myself as I dodge left and slide right to try and maneuver around this behemoth shopping kart, why is his child out grocery shopping at 10 at night?

As I make my final vein attempt to get around this guy and make my way to the self check out and exit the store as quickly as possible the man makes a sudden sharp turn right in front of me. He turns into a lane that is not even open. His child flies off the side of the kart and falls right in front of me. His head hitting the floor makes the sound of a bowling ball dropped on cement floor covered with linoleum.

So now I am in a difficult situation. Do I stop and help the screaming child up, or do I step over him and continue on my way to the self check out and get the hell out of there?

Well I chose the latter, and as I paid for my dumb rolls I realized that maybe I should have helped him out. When I got home I explained the story to Kate and judging by her reaction, as expected she would have stopped and helped the kid. So now I feel a little guilty about the situation. I decided to weigh the consequences and look at the situation in a few other perspectives.

If I had stopped to help the child, what would it look like? I am a single, irritated man walking through the grocery store with rolls in my hand. Do I really think the child would welcome my assistance? The most likely scenario that would play out is that I would have scared the poor screaming child thus making an even more tragic experience.

Now from the fathers point of view, a single irritated man walking through the store picking up this child that I don't know to help him off the floor. I know I would not want some random man picking my son up off the floor. What if the kid was seriously injured? I'm no doctor. So the way I see it, I could have potentially avoided a lawsuit.

So in the end I think I made the correct decision even though I do feel a little bad. I am glad I work with computers.