"Was this a planned hissy fit?"

Interesting question! Maybe the characters in this story with the real political agenda were not the performers, but the innocent-looking little old ladies...

I thought of those two earlier today, when I spent an hour or so at the temporary Allstate Insurance Claim Center set up in the parking lot of the Lowe's store near my job. I parked, walked over to where people were standing on line, took my place, and a minute or so later a little old lady with a cane arrived and stepped right in front of me.

I didn't even open my mouth before she started in justifying her behavior. (I did have enough time to give her a questioning look.) According to her, I had taken her spot in the queue by "rushing ahead" of her; in other words, as soon as she could see the end of the line, that end-of-the-line position was, in her mind, rightfully hers. The fact that I was approching from a different direction and got there first was seen as an underhanded, cheating move on my part. It was obvious from her mean, accusing tone of voice that she genuinely considered herself to have been wronged.

Of course, I let her take the place in front of me ~ only cost me two or three minutes, in the end. She was at least seventy yeas old, about four and a half feet tall, and hobbling on a sprained ankle. She was certainly worthy of sympathy, but people got less and less willing to extend any to her as she proceeded to complain loudly and incessantly, and to try to push ahead, at every step of the process.

Like most of the folks filing claims today, I was asking only for compensation for evacuation expenses, which were being paid without regard to the normal deductable. (People who had sustained damage to their houses had already, for the most part, begun the insurance-claim process.) I was pretty satisfied with my payment; it did not cover my lost income for a week, but at least it paid for our lodging and gasoline, plus a per-diem-type meal allowance.