Maybe I am Rude... in Journal

I’m not sure I can help it.
Yesterday, while actively checking out in the grocery with DH, a woman behind us pipes up and asks “Does that random brand haven orange flavor?”
I look up to see who is talking, if they’re talking to me, etc. It’s an older, overweight woman in a tent like shirt and long shorts with open overfilled sandals getting her own order ready for checkout.
“I was wondering, I’ve never that before and some people say it has an orange flavor..” the woman continued, looking right at me.
“Well, I’m not sure,” I gestured at the box, “This is a new flavor. But the original does taste somewhat orange-y.” I replied, feeling somewhat helpful. I turned back to my check-out and continue on with my life.
“Well, I am sorry to have bothered you.” the woman expands next.
Perplexed, I look at DH, who smiled wanly at her and says “No problem at all,” all grins.
Already paid, we just left.

I puzzled over the interaction. Was I rude? Should I have said something more? Was anything more warranted? I don’t think so. Yet I still feel like I came across as rude.

Perhaps, and I feel this more palpably now in the age of safe spaces and PC language, I was not open and curious enough about her in my general demeanor. This speaks volumes about our state of society today, so I will expand.

It’s almost as if we’re running headlong for a society in which one individual may not actively prefer, and definitely cannot actively avoid interactions with any other particular individual. For instance the lady in the grocery is someone that I would actively avoid interacting with.
Why?
Mostly because she has nothing to offer me. That might sound harsh, narcissistic, selfish, and callous. Rather than defend it, I rather would say; I have no obligation to defend my preference. But, I would avoid her also because interacting with her would literally be reductive to my own personhood.
Human interaction is pretty unique. We have beautifully intricate emotional, psychological and physical communication pathways. When one person is focused and intimately communicating with another; they entrain. This is part of the reason for the age-old wisdom to pick your friends carefully. You become them.
This happening on a micro level with every single interaction, believe it or not! Human beings have an almost limitless potential! That potential is sculpted and molded throughout our lives by the everyday interactions with others and with ourselves.
So, yes. I do have a vested interest in avoiding interactions with people who do not share my values.
You might say, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
To which I would reply, people aren’t books. And, how else can one judge a book without investing (losing) significant time and energy, and sacrificing my insofar hard-won value system?
And this, my friends, is another argument as to why it is so critical to observe and examine your core values; your values determine how you judge the world; your judgment is your perception. Your perception is your life.