To Be Or Not To Be?

Rude, I mean. I was in the thrift store and walked up to the counter to look at the jewelry in the spinning case they keep there. There was a women already at the counter paying for some items she had picked out and when she saw me turning the case she reached out and spun it in the other direction saying there was something she wanted to look at. I stared at her in shock as she told the women behind the counter that she want to look at the gold leave pin. The saleslady gave her the pin, the rude woman paid her 75 cents for it, pick up all her purchases and walked out of the store.

Now, some things you should know; first, I have never seen this woman before, second, she had a foreign accent, and, third, she seemed to know some of the ladies behind the counter. These three things are the only reasons why I did not say to her, "Excuse me, are you always this rude?," and instead walked away. In a small town you can make enemies out of whole family depending on how you treat one member.

Later I went back and asked the women behind the counter , "You know that lady with the foreign accent who rudely spun the case out of my hand? Do you know her?"  She looked surprised and said she did not realize the women had done that but she was Russian. I'm not sure if that answer was a non sequitur or her way of explaining the woman's behavior but I left it alone.

You might think my reaction was passive but my first instinct was to slam the case to a halt and demand to know just what the hell she thought she was doing. The fact that I did not know who she was and how she was related to the other people standing around is the only reason why I did not. Later I thought that maybe she had glanced over and seen the pin as the saleslady was bagging her other purchases and before she could say anything about wanting to look at it I had walked up and turned the case. She may have thought I was being rude, it does not excuses her rudeness, it just explains it.

What would you have done?