The Cash Register

Did you ever notice that you can walk by the cash register in a store a million times and see the cashier just waiting for customers with nothing to do...but as soon as you are ready to cash out with your purchases, every single person in the store has decided to do so at that very moment...all before you. And about five of them need a price check, of course. So you spend longer in the line than it took you to pick out your meager purchases. There is always someone who walks up and pretends that they don't know where the line ends, so they quietly sidle up next to someone in front of you, to which everyone gives them dirty looks. Having received the reprimand, this person always says, "Oh, I didn't know." with a nervous chuckle, and they return back to the store and continue looking around. Hoping for that moment when the cashier is just waiting for customers with nothing to do.

I remember one time I was in a busy store around Christmas. Waiting in line forever with about 3 items and it was my turn next. Some man walks up to me and says, "Excuse me, ma'am, can I go in front you? I only have this one item." And before I even answer him, he proceeds to cut the line in front of me. Ummm, where do you see the sign that says: "people who have single purchases shall supercede those with multiple purchases." (???) So I tell him, "I'm sorry, sir, but I was here first. You'll need to wait just like me and everybody else behind me." I remember the confused look on his face as he backed away. Like what I had said did not make any sense...So off he went, on his quest to find a victim who will let him cut the line. Buddy, if you just picked a line and stood in it for a while, you would have been out of here a long time ago.

By the way, his purchase was a can of paint. There is nothing about a can of paint that could be a dire emergency. I could understand if he was carrying a first aid kit or a defibrillator, but a can of paint?