Retail Therapy

(During our family beach vacation, my mom and I run to the grocery store. It’s a lovely day, so we’d really rather be on the beach than in the store. We have four items, and each check out line has one or two people in line. Our line has one person with a medium-sized load of items, and the cashier is pretty quick and making small talk with the other customer.)

Cashier: *scanning the other customer’s last item* “I can’t wait until my shift is over, and I can go to the beach!”

Customer: “It’s lovely out.”

Cashier: “I was going to hang out with my boyfriend this afternoon, but now I’m not so sure.”

Customer: “Oh…”

Cashier: “Yeah. I think he’s stalking me.”

Customer: “That’s not good.”

Cashier: “No! Last night I told him I was going out with my friends, and he wanted to know where. When we left, he was sitting in his car in the parking lot!”

Customer: “Oh.”

Cashier: “I don’t know what to do; it’s like he doesn’t trust me. We met online and we’ve only been together a few weeks.”

(The cashier gives more background that I’m not really listening to, with no responses from the customer, until she’s silent for a few moments.)

Customer: “Um… that’s too bad. Can I swipe my credit card?”

Cashier: “Yeah, of course. But what do you think I should do? What would you do?”

Customer: “Um, I’m not sure. Can I swipe my card yet?”

My Mom: *to me* “Let’s go in the next line. I have no advice for this girl, and I don’t want to hear her story all over again.”