Shopping And A Show

Pat called and asked me to pick up a gallon of bleach on my way home. I stopped the local dollar store in a strip mall near my house. There’s a supermarket there but I thought I’d save a little at a the dollar store. After all, bleach is bleach and a one item purchase should be a quick in and out thing and I was in a hurry.

I pulled the bleach bottle off the back wall of the store and went up to the register. Just ahead of me a woman pushed a full shopping cart up to the counter and started unloading. She pulled out pots and pans, cleaning supplies, a broom and dust pan, bed sheet, towels and just kept pulling from the cart. She was chatting with a friend and it turned out she had just moved in to town and was setting up an apartment. It took a while and she finally finished. It took the cashier a little longer to ring up. The total was $127.53. At a dollar store. She probably saved a lot.

The woman dug through her purse, found a check book and wrote a check. The cashier started processing the check then stopped and told the woman, “I can’t accept this. It’s a starter check”

“There’s money in the account,” the woman said. “I just opened it. The bank gave me these checks to use until the regular ones come in.”

“Yeah,” the cashier said, “that’s why they’re called starter checks. We can’t take them. It’s a store policy.”

They had a bit of a staring contest then the woman dug through her purse a little more and said, “Fine. Put it on this.” She handed over a credit card.

“We don’t take credit cards,” the cashier said.

“Everybody takes credit cards,: the woman said.

“We don’t.” They stared at each other a little more.

“What do you take,” the woman asked?

“Checks that aren’t starter checks and cash,” the cashier said.

By now there was a line behind me that ran about halfway through the store. The woman started digging through her purse. It was a large purse, stuffed with enough things to get her through a few days of electrical blackout or being stranded in a desert. There were a couple of water bottles, candy bars, tissue, an assortment of make-up items, a mirror, kids toys, a mirror and those were only the things I could see on top. She dug deeper. Cash and coins were scattered through the purse and she kept a running total as she pulled each out. She lost track a couple of times and had to start over. Her final total was $89.24. A bit short and she started discussing options with her friend. They could either take things off until they came down to cash on hand or go get more cash. They opted for the cash. The woman looked around the store and asked, “Where’s your ATM?”

“We don’t have one,” the cashier said.

“Well, who does?” The woman was getting a little exasperated. Weren’t we all. Most people in the line behind me were making exasperation noises. I’m being kind here.

“The grocery store and the drug store in the strip mall,” I said. “The two gas stations on the corner, the bank up the street.” I decided it was time to be a little active before the bleach bottle in my hand reached its expiration date.

The woman grabbed her purse, shoved the cash and coins back in to it and started out the door with her friend. She half turned and pointed to the counter. “Leave all that where it is. I’ll be right back.” We watched the woman and her friend get in to a car and drive off. The cashier had bagged the items as she checked them. She put everything into a shopping cart and pushed the cart aside and cleared the register. Looking up she said, “Next!” There was almost a cheet in the store.

It only took a few seconds to ring up my bleach. In less than a minute I was in my van heading home. It had taken over twenty minutes to buy a gallon of bleach. I think I saved about a quarter but I got to watch live theater. Shopping and a show.