Awkward Safeway Stories (II)

Yes... Safeway has struck again. This time on a Tuesday evening. I suppose I will add that to the ever growing list of times not to shop for groceries. As I stood in line while my groceries were being scanned I had yet another awkward encounter in the Hazel Dell Safeway. This time it was not with the over-zealous checker, although (red flag #1) she did explain to me that, "I ALWAYS keep the register volume turned way up so that I can hear the double beep when I make a mistake! I don't know how the other checkers do it with the volume turned down...." and (red flag #2) "OOPS! just take your eyes off the scanner for one second and all sorts of things happen". Instead, it was a fellow Safeway patron who made things awkward. To set the scene, behind me in line were a woman in her late 40s early 50s and her teenage daughter. The woman was wearing a long coat and a scarf and pants. I had come directly from the gym so was wearing gym shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt.

Woman: "I wonder if we're from the same area?"
Me: silence (I assumed she was talking to the checker? or someone else? either way it seemed an odd question as I don't know why in blue blazes anyone would go out of their way to shop at a safeway far from their home.)
Woman: "I wonder if we live near each other?"
Me:  awkward smile/nod (I realized she was in fact looking at me and pointing while she said it this time... teenage daughter looks embarrassed now)
Woman: "I mean look at what you're wearing!"
Me: (realizing that she's taking issue with the fact I'm wearing shorts in December) "haha... oh well I just came from the gym"
Woman: "But still! Only in Oregon would you see this!... I mean you're wearing shorts, and I'm wearing a scarf!"
Me: awkward smile/nod (I'm really good at that)
Teenage Daughter: totally embarrassed silence.

And then I made my escape. HOWEVER. The awkwardness was not done there! Just when I thought I was free and clear. I put my bags in my car and was walking to return the cart. While returning the cart I noticed that one of the Safeway employees was walking around picking up all of the carts from the cart return. In an attempt to make his life a little bit easier I took the four floating carts in the immediate vicinity and pushed them all together so that they would be easier for the guy to pick up. Apparently I'm quite a natural at it because the man picking up carts yells in my direction, "Thanks, You're good at that! You must have worked at Safeway!"
Can you guess my response? Oh yes. the awkward smile/nod.