Hey Lady! Can't You Read?
Last week I went grocery shopping at Meijer, a big Wal*Mart type of store. It's the kind of store I can only tolerate for short periods of time. After an hour in there I lose all ability to make decisions and my brain starts screaming, I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE!
Last Thursday I had a large list of non-typical items to hunt down and I exceeded the hour.
Fighting the inclination to ditch the cart and run toward the door, I steered toward the checkout lanes and spotted a cashier I knew to be quick and competent. Her line was short. The cart in front of me only had a few items in it. What luck!
After unloading $130 worth of groceries onto the belt and getting most of them bagged and into the cart, the competent friendly cashier leaned over and whispered, "Did you know you are in the express lane?"
I looked up. And, what to my wondering eyes did appear? A sign saying
For my whole life, I've been the obedient shopper who accurately counted the items in her cart and wouldn't think of going into the express lane with one extra. Now I was standing in the express lane with an overflowing cart containing dozens of items. Yikes!
I admitted I had no clue. I apologized to the cashier without explanation. There was no good explanation.
Competent friendly cashier tried to make me feel OK by telling me that sometimes when the store is busy the lane manager sends regular orders to the express lane.
I didn't feel better. I didn't look at the people in line behind me. I know what they were thinking, and I deserved it.
I just pushed the cart out the door and went home, very embarrassed.
It's almost three days later now. And I'm almost able to laugh about it. Actually, it was a great way to get checked out quickly.
Wonder if I could get away with it again?
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