Really, what are they thinking?

Sometimes when you are going through weighty times, you are thrown a nugget of lightness that helps to keep the stymies of life at bay.  I got such a plum the other day.

My current serious and difficult challenge is getting my 93 year old, fiercely independent father off the road.  And I don't mean off the road as a cane carrying pedestrian.  I mean, off the road from behind the wheel of his Honda, which is more of a bumper car lately.

Just when I think I'm going to scream at the latest road block in taking the keys away from this man, who use to take the keys away from me, a funny story unfolds right in front of me to lighten my mood.

I was in the Whittier Trader Joe's last week, having stopped there on my way to picking up my dad to take him to an ophthalmologist appointment.  I was next in line to pay for my groceries, standing behind a little old lady.  (From here on out to be referred to as LOL.  Pun intended.)

This LOL had told the cashier she wanted each of her 6 bananas rang up separately.  The cashier dutifully scanned each banana separately, along with all her other items.

LOL got agitated at the clerk at one point, for a reason unclear to the patient Trader Joe's employee and to me, as I watched this drama unfold.

When the groceries were all scanned and bagged, LOL finally makes it clear that she had wanted each and every item PURCHASED separately.

Clerk verified with LOL that she really wanted to pay for each item separately.  Yes, she did.

Clerk cancelled the first transaction and started over again. (I was encouraged to go to a different cashier at this point, but hung around to see what happened.)

Each banana, (housed in its own separate plastic bag), each carton of yogurt, each and every item required a separate transaction---

a swipe of her card, the entering of her pin, the cash back ? prompt, the o.k. the amount, the giving of the individual receipt.

  

.19 banana = receipt

.99 yogurt = receipt

.19 banana = receipt

1.79 sour cream = receipt

2.99 orange juice = receipt

.19 banana = receipt

1.49 tuna = receipt

I would guess she purchased some 25 items.  

The cashier, Dee Dee, remained friendly, albeit confused.  The customer tapped away at the key pad and amassed a stack of receipts.

 As I was driving out of the parking lot, LOL was loading up the trunk of her car with the groceries.  I couldn't help wonder if she purchases every gallon of gasoline separately?  Does she require a separate transaction for each  postage stamp she purchases at the post office?
I don't know what would motivate such a request, but it gave me something else to think about for awhile, and I was grateful for that.
Hmm...and
I wonder if she should be driving?

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol