Elevator doors do close.

We needed to buy some rechargeable batteries and soda yesterday. After it took 5 minutes to get from one side of the Walmart parking lot to the other, we decided to forgo Walmart and the tons of idiotic people seeking cheap deals and head over to Target where the clientele is a smidge better.

We had to go downstairs for the batteries, and so after spending some time looking around and pondering whether Mateo needed a new toy or not (the answer to that was: no), we headed over to the elevator to go back upstairs. This is one thing I never really thought about before having Mateo - that elevators and ramps are the only way to get around when you have a baby -- all of a sudden I saw the world quite differently when Mateo arrived.

There was a lady at the elevators with a shopping cart; one of her kids was in the cart, the other was walking. As the doors opened up, the walking kid trotted inside right as the shopping cart kid kicked off his shoe, which the shopping cart jammed on and wouldn't move any further. The lady, who I will loosely call a 'mom,' exclaimed "OH!" and reached down to remove the shoe from under the cart...as the doors started to close.

Right after my husband and I got to the elevators, some annoying old man showed up and acted like no one was there except him, and if the lady wasn't blocking the elevator doors, he would have easily bypassed us all and stepped into the elevator. So, when the doors started to close, he panicked because that meant he wasn't getting on the elevator, and so he told her the doors were closing. My husband and I said the same thing.

Instead of acting quickly, while her child was screaming as the doors closed, by sticking her leg or arm into the opening so the safety laser on the elevator would detect her limb and reopen the doors, she stood there and said, "My boy! My boy!!" which made the kid start wailing even more loudly. She somehow thought he would pop out on the other side (the elevators at Target open on one side to let people off and then close, then the other side opens to let people on), so she went over to the other side to see. My husband, who is naturally helpful, went as well. I stood there with Mateo and the old man, wondering how long this was going to go on.

My husband came back and I informed him that I could hear the kid upstairs screaming. The lady came back with her kid and the cart. The other set of elevators came down, and we all piled on, including 4 more people who just showed up.

As soon as the doors opened, the lady said over and over, "are we up or down? are we up or down? are we up or down?"

Finally someone told her up.

Then she started saying loudly, "WHERE'S MY BOOOOOOOOOOOOOY! JOHANNNEEEEE!!!!"
We didn't stick around to see what happened. I know I should feel bad for her or the kids or both because I'm now a mom, and I'm sure the first time Mateo ups and runs off, I will freak out as well. But. Come on. Elevator doors do close. You only have so much time before they close. She never once looked at the doors or her kid inside the elevator, not until we told her the doors were closing. She's stupid. Her stupidity makes me feel bad for her kids, but not her.