This message was brought to you by the cranky old lady in front of me at the grocery store.  She was going on and on about her make-good, rain check for a few dollars off her normal purchase.  She was just a shade under nasty to the cashier who was trying to help her.  There was some issue with the scanner not taking the coupon or something to that effect.  I don’t know the full story because I try and avoid listening to crap like that.  It brings me down.

So eventually they just give her the loaf of bread for free and she’s on her way.  Luckily I’m rid of her or so I think.  After paying I head over to the courtesy counter (read: the place they sell cigarettes and lottery tickets) and get in line to buy a lottery ticket.

Side Note: Lottery tickets have been called a tax on those bad at math.  I know the odds are something like 73 million to one that I’ll win, but according to the advertising “hey, you never know.”  I don’t want to ever be left wondering if I could have won a big jackpot, so I play from time to time.

Back to the story.  Guess who’s in front of me in line?  Yep, cranky old lady.  Her beef?  She’s complaining about the fact that she didn’t get all her discounts.  The woman behind the counter explains that since she didn’t have a loyalty card, she didn’t get all the discounts she could have received.  I’m guessing if she was a little nicer, the cashier would have swiped her own personal card because I’ve seen them do it for everyone.  Make that for everyone except cranky old ladies who complain about everything.

So here’s this lady complaining about not getting her discount and she’s going on and on about how she should have saved the four bucks that the receipt says she could have saved.  The courtesy counter lady, let’s call her Alice, tells cranky lady why she didn’t get the money, but cranky lady doesn’t want to understand.  Three minutes later, Alice gives in.  She’s seen her share of cranky old ladies (and probably a lot of crotchety old men too) working the courtesy counter.  The old lady starts doing the math wrong and wants four bucks instead of three bucks, but she already got a buck off because of the rain check and so she’s due three bucks, but demands three bucks and…

Exhausting, isn’t it?  Imagine standing behind this holding a bouquet of flowers and a 12-pack of diet Mountain Dew.  Alice gives in and gives her four bucks.  I was ready to give her a ten spot to shut up.

So cranky lady is walking out muttering to herself about how piss-poor the service is and how she’ll never come back to this store ever again.  Yeah right.  Cranky lady probably lives for these encounters.  You can see she’s the type who likes to parent teenage kids she bumps into and give out her advice to the world.

I put my bags in my car and take off.  Next up on my agenda – CVS to pick up contact solution.  I must have drifted into a time warp or maybe cranky old lady had multiplied because there were at least six cranky old ladies and maybe an unhappy teen or two in the mix as well.

Driving home I couldn’t help but ask myself one question – why be miserable?

Why be miserable when the alternative is so much better? 

Why be miserable when you can find a good side to practically any situation?

Being miserable, negative, difficult, uncaring and unsympathetic is just a waste of time.  Why not focus on the positive side of EVERYTHING in life?  I don’t get upset when a coupon doesn’t work or a scanner is on the fritz at the grocery store.  The cashier is not out to get me.  In fact, she’s always smiling and nice to people.  She doesn’t get paid a lot I’m sure, but she doesn’t let that get her down.  If anything, the cranky lady would have been to the same grocery store something like 100 or 200 times in the past few decades.  That’s enough time to know that what happened to her wasn’t the norm.  She could have simply dismissed the minor issue as an anomaly of sorts. 

I’m guessing that she reacted the way she did because it’s her DEFAULT mode.  Your default mode is how you react instinctively.  Some people hardly react to bad news or inconveniences, while others carry on like they’ve just been disgraced and now their life is over.

How do you react?  Pay attention to how you react in certain situations and figure out if you’re operating in default MISERABLE mode or if you instead shrug off the situations as part of life’s little inconveniences.

Take a little time right now to think about the situations that annoy you the most.  If you can be objective and really analyze whether you’re a miserable person in certain situations, you can take the steps you need to be more positive and you’ll find that you’ll enjoy life more.  Plus you might find yourself with quite a few more friends in the process.