Police Say Physical Altercation at Ridgefield Stop N’ Shop Results in Two Arrests

According to the CT Post Ridgefield Police arrested two men on Saturday August 24th for a "physical altercation." Authorities say a verbal altercation turned physical between a 62 year old Ridgefield man and a 35 year old New Milford man. Both men were arrested just after 2 pm that day and were released on a promise to appear in court. That appearance is scheduled for Danbury Superior Court on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

This is all the information we have. No names, we don't know if it was in the parking lot, we don't know if it was in the deli line and we have no possible motives for a fight. This means if we are going to speculate wildly, we will first need to identify the things that can be most frustrating about dealing with others while we are at a grocery store. I've identified, what I believe to be the two things that most often start fights at a grocery store:

Parking spots - parking spots are a huge fight starter, this is a tale as old as time. The potential parking spot dispute scenarios are endless. Did someone park in a handicapped spot who is not handicapped? Did someone cut someone off who was waiting for a parking spot? Did someone park way outside their designated line?

Deli counter - The typical deli counter line is a nightmare. The deli counter is a fundamentally flawed institution in America. You have some where you take a number and some where there is no number to take. This leads to confusion and people trying to cheat the system. Another problem with these deli counters is they are often positioned "catty corner." With a "catty corner" position is becomes difficult to establish a waiting line with any real integrity. To make matters worse there are bread bins sprinkled throughout where a line may form. The deli counter as a concept, needs to be looked at from the foundation up and completely re-worked.

If this (alleged) fight was not a dispute over the parking lot or the deli I'll eat an entire can of sardines. I hate sardines so that would suck for me. The good news is, this (alleged) fight was 1,000% about one of those two things. Based on the age difference of the two men I'm leaning towards a parking lot issue. You have a 35 year old and a 62 year old. This is a HUGE age disparity with two very different ideas about what behavior is acceptable in a parking lot.

Go ahead, tell me I am wrong about any of what I have laid out here. Spoiler alert, you cannot.