In retrospect, when she sort of cut in front of me when the new check register opened I should have known something like this was coming.
The order ahead of me was rung up and the person moved along.
I had three items, oh and I needed a bag to carry them home because eggs.
The checker grabs my three items and I accept the 8 cent charge for a bag. She begins to ring up the first and the second when the previous customer interjects. She is leaning over the end of the check stand, holding out a ten dollar bill and bringing it directly into the space of the checker, who is actually on to the next customer and trying to move things along. “Can I get a new ten, this one has tape on it. Some places won’t take them.” The checker tries to tell her that this will take a moment, after all, she was ringing up the next customer.
The woman remains steadfast in her holding out of the ten dollar bill. I kind of shrug in a just make her go away I don’t care sort of way, and so she briefly suspends my three item order, and gets the woman replacement paper currency in the form of two five dollar bills. The two fives appear nice and reasonably new. They are not really what she wanted, but she takes them with visible irritation as the checker resumes my three item order.
“I need a different dime. This one I cannot tell what coin it is.” She is now in the same spot, extending her hand out with a very weathered dime. The checker is actually a bit flustered by the interjections, and lack of space being respected since there is not a plastic shield there, but in front of me. Again, the order is just about done. She managed to get all three items quickly rung up. I am about to hand her the cash and she opens the register and gives the woman a very, very shiny dime. At no point in time did the previous customer acknowledge me as the customer actually being helped or as being interrupted. She had a clear focus on the checker. Her transaction was not yet complete until the money received in change was acceptable.
I get my nickel back in change, take my bag of three items, and begin to walk away as there are a couple people in line behind me. The previous customer is still there, blocking my way, putting her coins away while stands there with her cart of one bag of groceries. She is also sort of inspecting the coins and bills in her wallet. I decide to step to the left instead of the right to avoid her as she finally begins to move away. I exit the store and go the long way around to the car.
