the coolest thing i’ve ever seen…in the retail world, at least

there are different levels of hell…

…and i don’t mean to go all seinfeldian on you, but i feel a special one should be set aside for that asshole in the “ten items or less” lane with a cart full of shit.

sue me, it drives me nuts.

i’ve lost a good part of weight (and helped maintain it) by eating lean cuisine frozen entrees. they taste good, are priced nicely, and for the most part are fairly healthy. sometimes my local grocery has a deal on ten of them, and when i get that i usually get a couple other things, and that is one of the few times i don’t qualify for the “ten items or less” lane. i’ll sometimes push it if i have eleven or twelve. but once the number has the word “teen” in it? or starts with a two? i know when to say when…

…just not always when the ad campaign famous for said slogan wants me to know. but never mind that now.

so the other day i was at target with an item. “an”. as in singular. and in classic store form them they had sixteen registers, and only two were open. one was labeled “express – ten items or less” and the line was six deep, with the last group in it being a family of four with a cart that could barely contain what all they had! clearly over double (or more) the ten item “limit”.

“fuck that”, i said to myself, “i’ll go with the two people over here even though they each have a lot”. in truth neither of them had as many as the inconsiderate clan in the express lane…and i made a good call: i got rang up just as the family was stepping up to the register…

…and the checker DENIED TO RING THEM UP!!!

“sir, this is the express lane – if you have more than ten items you need to ring up elsewhere”, she said.

“WHAT?!?!”, said the pissed off patriarch of this obviously upper-crust mexican national family.

she pointed at the sign above her head and shouted to the people in line behind me, “if you have less than ten things i can ring you up!” and did so AROUND pappa inconsiderate!

“i with i had known that before i waited in line for half an hour” (in truth i had been in line less than five minutes and as fast as she was i doubt they beat me there by much, let alone twenty-five minutes).

mousey little indian girl standing up to a (for one of them) rather large pissed off mexican guy. and held her ground as people that had come AFTER him walked around him (and his wife and three kids) to check out ahead of him. pretty ballsy. nice to see that indian tendency to do EXACTLY what they’re told and “stick to the script” (ever had one for customer service? “before i let you go is there anything else i can do for you? would you say i solved your problem sir [or madam]?” you know what i’m talking about!!!) can have its benefits!