Picking up meds for my son. He has pneumonia. He’s four. It’s frightening for him and concerning for us, frankly, because it’s the first time he’s been this ill since he was born.

The line is being held up by two groups of people.

The first is a tall man and an old woman. I assume it’s a son and mother or something. You’d think it’s sweet. But the old woman has no idea what she’s doing. She’s utterly incapable of operating the touchpad and seems indifferent to the growing line behind her. The man meanwhile is just sort of muttering to himself without helping. Then he seems to try to haggle or complain to the clerk. He groans and whines about something. It accomplishes nothing but holding up the line. This goes on for 10 minutes or so.

Next, an older woman, not elderly but well into middle age, insists on buying a six-pack of soda and other random items with her numerous medications. She places all of it on the tiny counter that’s intended for prescription drug pickup. Then she also starts to complain about something or become confused by something and a transaction that should take just moments goes on and on and the people around me begin to groan and sigh. The woman does not care. It’s as if she’s in a world of her own. A lady behind me complains about the back-to-back delays caused by these people.

And that’s what struck me about this and like interactions I’ve had. Today was just especially bad because my son is sick and all that, so I had less patience. But I notice this a lot these days, people utterly oblivious to those around them, utterly inconsiderate, as if they had never left their own homes.