I’ll Take a Slice of Life at the Grocery Store

I just made a quick trip to the local Hy-Vee (as in groceries) Store to pick up some essentials. 

The store was moderately busy with post-storm shoppers and I thought perhaps I’d see if there was a movie at the Red-box dispenser that my Schmoo and I could watch.  There was no line so I walked up and punched the screen to start browsing.  Within 30 seconds there was a line of four behind me … clearing their throats, sighing and adopting poses which said “hurry up”.  I don’t do well in those situations.  For some reason, when under pressure, my reading metabolism (ability and speed) sloooooows wayyyyyyy dowwwwwn.  And one can never just rent a movie without looking to see what all of the options are and reading the little synopses that appear on the screen.  Well, I just finished reading an article on the blog Harvest Fields which spoke about the importance of demonstrating Christ-like care and concern for people.  As I kicked into a slow metabolic rate I was prompted in my spirit that this was NOT the way to show care and concern.  I was properly convicted so after flipping through the screens full of options without reading a single synopsis I turned around and smiled and said, “I really don’t know what I want to see so I’ll not keep you all waiting.”  There were some nervous smiles and narrowed eyes and I could hear emanations of thought: “what’s this guy up to”.  But I looked at the young lady behind me who had been popping her gum while she waited and I said, “It’s all yours … enjoy”, and I made my way through the store picking up the essentials.

In the bakery section I discovered the bakery lady boxing up the day’s doughnuts (fresh this morning but now day old) into boxes so that they could be sold at lower rate.  She continued to work while I stood there and fought the urge to clear my throat, sigh or adopt a pose that said “hurry up” (I didn’t have any gum).  Eventually she looked my way and said, “Did you want to get something from here?”  I smiled and pointed to the four caramel pecan danishes.  “I’ll take all four of those”.  She cheerily bagged them for me and told me to tell the checkout person that they were to be rung up at half price.  “Thank you sweet lady!”

Getting to the checkout line at the Express counter (12 items or less) I found a woman in front of me with a full basket.  I thought about grabbing a package of gum, but I resisted … patiently waiting until she paid for her 183.00 order of groceries.  When I told the checkout lady about my danishes she looked at me like I had just posed a life changing challenge before her.  That and the fact that she was chewing gum made me dubious.  She asked me how much they were.  I repeated, “the lady in the bakery said, ‘half price’. 

“How much is that?”.

“I don’t know?’

“Do you know how much they are regularly?”

I started looking to see if there was someone in a white shirt and black tie somewhere nearby.  We were going to need help here.

“No”, I said politely. 

At this point, Mr. White Shirt walked up and so she turned to him and said, “He says that these are half price, how much is that?’ 

“They are usually .79 each”

“OK”, then turning to me “How many are there?”

“Four” I said

“So that would be what, a dollar?” and thankfully she looked at Mr. White Shirt when she said that, and not at me.

He did the math for her and I was happily on my way with my essentials:

Some Coffee Creamer, A quart of milk, a quart of half and half, a small tray of fruit, a Pecan Cranberry pie, four half price pecan danishes and a bunch of banannas and a story to tell.

🙂