Manners

OK, so having three boys makes me no expert on manners of all things, but I have to tell what happened at the store the other day that reminded me just how important the etiquette my mother taught me really is.
I'm at the grocery store trying to spend less than usual, (because I had gone over last week on non-food items) and got to the check out lanes to find them all very busy except the self-check lanes. The obvious choice is to go for it even though I had a few coupons and a hungry baby. Now, I get through all the items and put the bags back into the cart and pull out my wallet and start scanning the coupons. Quite easy, just scan and put them in this little slot. So AFTER I slide the last one in the slot, I realize it didn't scan my best coupon! . Hey, every little bit counts! So I made eye contact with the self-check out helper lady and asked her if there was a way to get that coupon out of the locked box. Without using any words, she looked over yonder as if to say someone is coming?? OK, whatever. So I wait, and then a nice woman comes and fixes the problem. Great! I say my thank you's and smile and try to make her feel appreciated because that is just what you do. Now I see that the total is still over my budget. So in order to keep a happy husband and show him how much I respect his budgeting guidelines, I simply request to the helper lady that I would like to pay with two different bank cards. I know that sounds crazy to most of you, but I really only went over by about $10 and I so I had it all figured out. So she comes over to my computer and tries to figure it out and Dawson steps on her foot. On purpose. OK, so remember he is three and you don't always know why he does some of the things that he does. I mentioned in an earlier post how unpredictable he is, remember? Anyway, no rhyme or reason why, but the checker lady says sternly, with a straight face, looking in his eyes speaks, "Shame on you!"
so....what would you do?
Never mind that, I asked him to apologize and he was too scared to look at her. (I think he sensed her frigidness) So, after I apologized for him and was really embarrassed she fixed the issue, I paid in my kooky way and walked away.
I get a little ways before I realize that my child just got away with being disrespectful to this lady, and I am thinking several things, but decide against most and asked him to go back and tell the lady that he is sorry that he stepped on her foot. So, he walks toward her with his head down and gets to her and speaks. She is now chatting with another worker and looks at me and with no words is asking if I know that my son is over by her. So I tell her that he is trying to tell her something. She looks down and he again speaks of his remorse with his head down. Without coming down to his level, of course she wasn't able to hear his words, so without words nods to me as if to say, "OK".
NEVER MIND! So Dawson comes back to me and I told him I was so happy that he did the right thing and that it makes peoples heart feel so good to hear when you are sorry.
I am no miss manners, but please. I won't go into how infuriated this incident made me. But I did learn not to go through the self check out line with coupons and multiple payment plans. Is it that easy to get a job as a cashier that you don't have to have any social abilities? No words?
OK, I vented, now I am over it.