QUESTION: I do the grocery shopping for my family. My concern is how best to deal with the people who clog the aisles. Most grocery stores have aisles wide enough for two shopping carts to pass as long as each person pulls his or her cart over to the side.

It is very common for people to stop to look at an item and leave the cart in the middle of the aisle, blocking anyone else from passing down that aisle. My nice guess is that they are simply not paying attention to anything other than what they're looking for. My guess is that they are unaware that other people ALSO shop in the grocery store, and that they are so overwhelmingly important that any of the rest of us who happen to be in the store should be glad to step aside.

Well, I have managed to not say anything mean to them … yet.

What is the proper way for me to proceed?

1. Simply go around, using the next aisle, and then work my way back to the spot I wanted.

2. Say “pardon me, I would like to get to the coffee over there.”

3. Say “hard as it is to imagine, there are other people in the grocery store who want to use this aisle.”

4. Stand there and stare (glare) at them until they emerge from their reveries and get moving again.

5. Ask them to move their cart to the side.

6. Or something else.

So far, I just try to ignore it and go to another aisle and come back later and hope I don't run into them again.

CALLIE'S ANSWER: While I see how this can be frustrating, give people the benefit of the doubt. It can be as simple as a smile and “excuse me.” We all have come in contact with tacky people. In this case, simply move out of their way.

LILLIE-BETH'S ANSWER: Wow! You've put a lot of thought and energy into this. I think the easiest thing to do is to excuse yourself and ask them nicely to move. That should snap anyone out of their reverie. It takes less energy on my part to assume that people are concentrating as hard on getting the right ingredients at the best price instead of deliberately and thoughtlessly pushing others aside.

HELEN'S ANSWER: Navigating the grocery takes a lot of patience. Fortunately, some grocery stores have wide aisles and you can get around these people, but, probably your best response is #2. It moves them out of the way of the item you are trying to get.

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