Grocery lists

Yes, I have momentarily crawled from obscurity, soon to return to my dark rock. But I was compelled to do so. I had an experience this weekend that I simply had to share with some friends, and to get their take(s).

So, I was at the local grocery store, bored out of my skull as a public-school trained teenager attempted to do basic math because the customer had handed her a different amount of cash than what she typed into her cash register.

Sigh.

Am I alone in this, or do you ever find yourself perusing the merchandise being purchased by those in front of you in the line?

Well, the thirty-something in front of me had the following on the conveyor belt:

1. a bottle of eye drops
2. a clear shower curtain liner
3. two bottles of sports drink
4. two Hershey bars (the BIG ones)
5. four glue-strip-style mouse traps
6. a box of condoms

Yes, all this was separated from my basic foodstuffs by a slim plastic rod bearing the name of the grocery store. And all the while the clerk was trying desperately not to laugh.

No joke: the clerk was bright red.

And I think the man in front of me caught on to the clerk's mental vibe, because after a minute or so, he also turned bright red.

Do not get me wrong--this man had and has every right to purchase whatever legal items he wishes in whatever combination he desires. But we who observe his purchasing also have the right to giggle and point.

For all I know these could be innocent purchases, the dregs of a shopping-list, all that remains from a day-long trek from store to store. It was entertainment, nonetheless.

Which you have to admit, in a long checkout line, can be pretty hard to come by.

[Cross-posted at The Spirit of the Law]