The Line

He only needed one item. His wife had called and asked if he could bring home some butter from the store on his way home from work. The task seemed simple enough, and a quick stop in the super saver store should have him on his way in no time. He quickly found a parking space, and entered the large supermarket. He knew where the butter was located at the back of the store, and although ever isle before he reached the butter had tantalizing treats beckoning him to purchase them, he resisted all temptation, grabbed the butter, and made his way to the front of the store. It was there the stress began. It was there time came to a standstill. It was there he saw, “The Line.”

Although there were dozens of people in the store, only two of the twenty eight lines were open. One of them had at least twelve people in it, and the other one which was the express line had only three. “Twenty items or less” the sign read just above the checkout stand, and those who were in that line appeared to only have a few items a piece. The man quickly jockeyed for position, and made his way to be the fourth in the express line. “This should only take a few moments,” he thought to himself as he gleefully looked over at the poor saps who were standing in the huge line a few isles away.

But then suddenly, everything changed. He noticed an older lady who had many items in her shopping cart, and since most of them were smaller, the man didn't notice that her count of items might be beyond the twenty allotted for his line. One by one she slowly emptied her cart, and as each item was pulled, the cashier scanned her goods. “I don't know if I have over twenty items or not,”the man overheard the lady tell the cashier. “I will count them as I take them out.” The man rolled his eyes, looked at his watch, and began to notice that the longer line was shrinking very fast. This woman was taking so long that he watched, one, two, three and four customers in the other line go through before she had her items on the counter.

He looked at his watch again, and heard the lady ask, “Now was that twelve or thirteen items?” The cashier patiently said, “It was twelve.” “Oh good” the lady continued and then stopped putting items on the counter to have a conversation with the cashier. “The last time I was in here I had twenty-two items, and it became very frustrating to know which ones I would have to put back just so I could go through this express line. Now if I have twenty-two items today, will I have to put a couple back or will I be allowed to just go over the limit a little bit?” The man could not believe this was happening. What should have taken only a few minutes now turned into fifteen, twenty and now nearly twenty five minutes.

He began to fume and wondered why the store didn't open more registers. He watched as another person in the longer line went through; then another, and another and still another...

Stay tuned tomorrow for more of story of “The Line.”

Until tomorrow...Why Say More?