Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Line Part Three

Yesterday the man who was only going into the store for some butter was found waiting in the twenty item express checkout line behind an older lady who not only had over the twenty item limit, but now was pulling out her check book to pay. His five minute pop in to the store now was an endurance nightmare.



The lady slowly pulled her checkbook from her purse and began looking for a pen. As the man behind her was now more violently tapping his foot and sighing out loud, the woman said, “Oh my, I think I have left my special pen at home. I know it was here yesterday, but I must have taken it out for some reason.” She looked a bit rattled and asked the cashier, “I'm sorry, but do you have a pen?” The cashier who was now also bothered by the woman's slowness, hurriedly offered her the pen on her register. The woman accepted it and noticed that it was black ink. “Do you have a pen that writes in blue?” the woman asked and continued, “I always write my checks in blue, and if I write this check in black it will mess my whole check register up.” The cashier quickly looked around her station and found a blue ink pen. She exchanged it for the black pen with the older woman, and mouthed apologies to the patrons behind her as the woman began to write.



“Now, what was that total again?” the woman asked. “Fifty eight dollars and twenty nine cents.” “Oh yes,” the woman acknowledged and then began to tell her story about how all these items would have cost her less than three dollars back in nineteen forty eight.



Twenty-six minutes had now passed, and the man who was behind the older lady was totally exasperated. He noticed that the second group of people who were in the regular checkout line were now completely through their line, and he wondered if he should cross over to it before a third one should pass by. The woman continued to write, and slowly added numbers and letters to her check. After another two or three minutes passed, the man finally had all he could take and yelled, “Lady, for crying out loud. We have been waiting behind you for almost a half hour. Would you please shake a leg and get on with it.” The woman acted as though she didn't hear him and continued to write. Every so slowly she penned her signature on the check and carefully tore the check from her check book. “I try to be very careful when I tear these checks out,” she told the cashier who quickly accepted her check and asked, “Do you have a form of identification?” “Oh yes,” answered the woman, “Let me find it for you.” The man behind her rolled his eyes and sighed loudly again. He thought that he surely was almost at the end of the torturous wait, but wondered if he was in one of the seven chambers of hell as he waited for those last few moments.



The woman dug through her purse again only to find that she had left her wallet in her car. She had no form of I.D.. “I'm sorry,” the woman said, “I seem to have left my wallet at home too.” The cashier said, “Ma'am, I cannot accept this check unless you have a proper identification.” The poor woman said, “Well, do you mind holding my items for me until I can go home to get my identification?” “Yes ma'am” the cashier agreed, and finally sent the woman on her way.



The man stepped toward the cashier, put his butter down, was ready to finally be checked out when the cashier said, “I'm sorry. This register is now closed. You will have to go to the other line.” The man screamed and said, “I have waited all this time for this woman to checkout and now you are going to close this line right in front of me and all the people behind me?” “Sir,” the cashier answered, “What people?” “These people,” the man abruptly answered and looked back. No one was behind him, and the cashier said, “Sir, those people checked out in the other line over fifteen minutes ago. They got tired of waiting, and chose to go to the other line. Now I suggest that you do the same.”



The man stormed over to the other line, waited again, and finally checked out. As he rushed out of the store, he noticed that there was an older woman beside his car. It was the older woman in the checkout line. He noticed that she was staring at the back fender of his car, and as he grew closer she recognized him and said, “Sir, is this your car?” “Yes it is,” the man said and noticed that the older woman had pulled into his car as she began to leave the parking lot. He couldn't believe it, and was just about to yell when the woman turned to him and asked, “Are you having a rough day?” The man got in his car, pulled out his cell phone, called the police and asked them to please bring hand cuffs because he was going to need to be restrained.



Until tomorrow....Why Say More?

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