One bad checker isn't enough to stop us from frequenting the Safeway on Market and 15th. It just seemed that this checker personified what we dislike most about old-time Ballard residents, you know, Subaru drivers who slow down at green lights, jaywalkers who can't walk 20 feet to the nearest crosswalk and generally fugly people who have their heads buried deep.
The problem with Ballard people is that they have not been properly corrected when they misbehave. In other parts of town, say the south end or Lynnwood, ballard-style behaviour would at least result in a few choice 4, 8,or 16 letter words hurled at the offender.
Yes, Ballard residents are "nice" but it is the kind of niceness that allows the propagation of true evil. A case in point is an incident last year where my 80 year old mother was nearly killed by a senior driving a Lincoln who ran a stop sign at 40 m.p.h. The elderly driver of the Lincoln deathmobile missed my mother by inches and t-boned a car on 24th resulting in the death of the drivers pet dog. Both my mother and the other driver were understandably very upset and let the elderly driver know it. Onlookers and witnesses who gathered at the scene were horrified that the offending driver was being yelled at. One person stated "she's 90 years old, can't you be nicer to her?"
Well, "nice" doesn"t cut it in situations like this. Ballardites, both young and old, commit offenses regularly that are impolite, stupid, dangerous and anti-social, and nobody ever tells them so.
Anyway, the Safeway at market and 15th is an O.K. store. The problem is that it is in Ballard, full of Ballard people and staffed by Ballard's finest.
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