The Line Grows Longer

A middle-age woman comes up to the counter with the Sunday paper, a cup of coffee and a small package of donuts. Since she brings her own Sinclair cup with her, the coffee is just a .99 cent refill. But she suddenly remembers that she has 10 stamps on her Coffee Club card, which means this one is free. She opens her purse and begins searching for the card.

A line is forming behind her.

She finds a Starbuck's card, a Safeway coupon, a Target gift card, a book of matches and some gum wrappers and places them all on the counter, one at a time, as she continues to rummage through her purse.

The line grows longer.

She finds the card!

After writing ".99" on the back of the card and ringing it into the register as a "coupon" deduction, the price comes to $3.79. She starts digging through her purse for change. She pulls out a few pennies, a nickel and a couple of dimes, puts them on the counter, and continues to dig around in her purse.

The line grows longer.

She finds more quarters, a piece of gum, a lighter, more dimes, more nickels and more pennies and puts them on the counter.

The line grows longer.

She keeps digging. More quarters, lipstick, some paper clips, more dimes, more nickels, some crumpled up receipts and more pennies.

The line grows longer.

She keeps digging.

Eventually she comes up with $3.76 in assorted change, and continues to dig.

I tell her not to worry, I'll cover the other three cents. But she insists that she must have a few more pennies and keeps on digging and searching.

The line grows longer.

"It's okay, ma'am, plenty of folks leave pennies here," I say.  "No worries, I've got you covered."
"You sure?" She asks.
"Yes, no problem. Thank you, and have a great day."
"Thank you," she says, and starts re-packing her purse. Then she stops, looks up and says, "Oh, I almost forgot, I need a pack of Camel Menthol lights, please."

$6.05

She digs around her purse for awhile to find her credit card . . .

The line grows longer.