Go home.

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I don’t understand the people who hang out in the gas station convenience stores, lingering by the counter, engaging the employees in mindless, inane chatter between customers.

Please tell me that you know who I’m talking about.

These are the idiots who are nearly (but not quite) blocking your path to the counter every time you approach the cash register with a gallon of milk and a Snickers bar. They are not quite in your way, but they are occupying space that you could have used had they not been there. They’re usually standing just to the left of the lottery machine, a step or two back from the counter, with a coffee or a fountain soda in hand, shuffling their feet as if engaged in the laziest, most unimaginative version of Dance Dance Revolution ever created.

Worst of all, their sole topic of conversation seems to be a listing of what they did yesterday (basically nothing) and what they have planned for tomorrow (even less). Not once have I heard one of these degenerates discussing politics, current events, sports or any other topic that would require at least a 6th grade level of education.

What are these people doing with their lives?

Yesterday I stopped at Cumberland Farms for gas and saw one of these shoe-shufflers standing by the counter, explaining the best way to get to East Hartford from Glastonbury to the disinterested cashier who was trying to collect payment from customers.  After picking up dinner for Elysha and myself, I returned to the Cumberland Farms, realizing that I needed a bottle of soda before heading home. At least 45 minutes had passed since my first visit and the idiot was still there, occupying the same four linoleum tiles that he had been when I saw him last.

Is this really the best these people can do in terms of entertainment?

Aren’t these the kind of people for whom Law and Order reruns and TBS movie marathons were made?  Perhaps these people need to be reminded about the accommodations that these cable television networks have made specifically for them in terms of programming.

And perhaps one day soon I will become aggravated enough to be the one to remind them.