Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Taking Life one Nickle at a Time

One Nickle at a Time

I went to the self checkout line. Its supposed to be fast right? The only people in front of me were the people currently using the machines. This should be quick enough I thought to myself. Then it all started. The lady on machine 2 started attempting to pay for her $16 worth of groceries with nickels. She would put the nickel in and it would be rejected. She continued trying the same defective nickel, over and over. In and than out, in and out again, 5 times in a row she tried that nickel. Maybe a different nickel will work she thought rummaging through her pocket full of change, nope, no nickels would work.

Now I've heard that the last moments of your life are in slow motion. If thats the case than the lady on machine number 4 was on the brink of death. The grim reaper must have been in the parking lot knocking on her Honda's door. It looked as if she was taking a sabbatical in between each item scan. Perhaps she was in deep thought as to how many plastic bags were needed to complete the job or maybe she had very week arms. I'm not sure.

Things seemed to be going well on machine 1, that is until she got the "show cashier your id" warning. Attempting to show cashier her ID proved hopeless, he was busy counting nickels and talking to an old acquaintance. "I have lots of friends who work here," the friend quipped, "that should help me get a job right?" Looking up for a moment the cashier realized that the lady was old enough to be his mother and approved her to purchase alcohol. Apparently wanting to die quicker than the slow motion lady, she added a few packs of cigarettes to her order sending the cashier hiking across the store.

I'm not certain what happened to the guy on machine number 3. The machine refused me service after he had left. Why, because it was busy, too busy for me. Yes I did eventually buy my groceries and no my frozen dinners didn't melt. There is no real point to this story. I could put a moral about patience here but whats the point.

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