Have you ever found yourself waiting behind a customer with an excessive number of items in a store’s express lane? A recent incident at Walmart was recounted by a customer who witnessed a cashier assertively addressing a shopper who was unwilling to adhere to the established guidelines. This was the most memorable experience I have had at Walmart. It occurred in Colorado Springs, where I had only a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a few additional items.
This woman whose cart was overflowing, almost runs me over to get in front of me at the 10 items line. The woman starts to unload her cart onto the checkout stand and the cashier says, ‘Which ten items would you like, ma’am?”
The woman stops and says, “What?”
The cashier responds in a calm, patient tone, “This is a ten items or less express line.”
She raised both hands, displaying all ten fingers as she spoke. Subsequently, she indicated the sign positioned above the lane, which stated “Ten Items or Less” in both English and Spanish.
The woman gets all red in the face and says, “I want all of this!”
The cashier, “Ma’am, I’m sorry. As I said, this is a ten items or less line, please choose the ten items you’d like to purchase today.”
The woman at this point lets out this noise that sounds like someone poked one of those screaming goats and shoved her still overflowing cart as hard as she could. It almost hit this little old man sitting on a bench. Then she gave all of us who were laughing at her the finger, said “F*** you!” and stormed out.
I acquired my purchases and generously offered the cashier a $20 tip in appreciation of the finest improv comedy performance I had witnessed in years.
Priceless.