A loaded vehicle, cargo carrier, and 4 kids packed in the suburban. My hubby took the wheel as we embarked on our 5+ hour drive to a beach vacation. We arrived early to catch some beach time but too early for our cottage check in. As I basked in the sun I planned out my strategy for check in and groceries. Efficiency was of the utmost importance to allow for the optimum beach time. The time arrived for my plans to take action. My prior planning allowed for a quick check in at the realtor. Keys in hand, I dashed for the car. Next stop: grocery store. Saturday afternoon in Saco was sure to be wall-to-wall tourists. No worries – I had packed most our provisions already – I just needed some perishables that were difficult to transport. I quickly filled my cart with the basic necessities and made my way to the cashier line. Since I didn’t need much my cart was only a quarter filled. I thought my checkout would be a breeze. I hadn’t planned on the store having an express line of 14 items or less. I didn’t meet this criteria. Could I squeeze in the line and not be noticed? Or would it tick off a tourist and start a brawl at check out? Hmmmmm… As I weighed my odds I made my way to a cashier line that was only two grocery carts deep. I scanned their carts and felt my best bet would be to stay in line and do some people watching. As I people watched a man came up and squeezed his overflowing cart in front of mine. I smiled and gave a quizzical look. He looked at me. I looked at him. I looked at this cart and then I looked at mine. I looked at him. He looked at me. Then he spoke. “We’re together” as he motioned to the person in front of me. “What?” I replied. “We’re together ….our orders”. He replied matter of factly. “Oh” I said. Then the words that followed came out before I could stop… “Don’t you think you should have stayed together… you have two full carts!” I smiled to lessen the harshness of my voice that surprised me. He looked at me. I looked at him. I sized him up…. Could I take him? Yes, I could. A quick blow of my grocery cart or a shot put throw of my fully ripened cantaloupe would cause him to fall down. Thus allowing me to move my cart into place. But I would then delay my beach time not to mention the mess I would feel compelled to pick up. Hmmmmm. I pondered my next move. A few moments passed. I continued to think. Perhaps he could see me calculating my thoughts. He than said to me, “You can go in front of us.” A nice gesture I suppose. But too late as it would cause too much work to juxtapose all our carts. “No thank you” I replied as nicely as I could muster. I decided to move my cart and find another cashier. Luckily three rows down was a shorter line. I ended up checking out quicker. So in the end I should have thanked the man for moving his cart in front of mine. I was able to check out quicker – get back to my family at the beach. Lesson learned. Sometimes things don’t work out as planned. Welcome the bumps in the road, enjoy the ride, the outcome may be better than originally expected.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 18:44:53 +0000
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