To the editor:

Last Friday I popped into Safeway for groceries, including eggs I had a coupon for.

The cashier told me I had mistakenly grabbed the wrong type of egg. Apparently eggs come with fine print — who knew? It turns out they were sold out of the promotional item so the cashier offered to subtract the equivalent discount from my purchase. Both employees were kind and helpful in response to my honest mistake.

I wish we all went on our merry way, but a gray old man had formed a one-person line behind me; Safeway was not bustlin’ at 5:30 p.m.

Irritated by the Great Egg Debacle, he spat sarcastic comments at the cashier: “How much do those eggs cost?! How much do the other ones cost?! How much is that coupon for?!”

As I thanked the employees and left, he loudly declared, “In my whole life I’ve ALWAYS paid the full price for everything!”

I was incensed. I am a single female in my mid-twenties just trying to get by. I fully support myself working full-time, plus I have expenses to foot as I pay my way through graduate school and an unexpected medical issue. Sometimes, clipping coupons is how I make ends meet.

Why should a young woman have to defend herself to a crotchety old man? Why should a young woman be harassed in a grocery store checkout line?

This behavior is unacceptable. Shame on Bainbridge residents who degrade young women over eggs.

ERIKA IKSTRUMS

Bainbridge Island