Woes of the Check Out Line

This is the disapproving look i give random strangers when they make me wait in a line behind them at the grocery store.

Give me a line to stand in and i promise you that it will be the slowest moving line in the entire store. I could be at Target and there isn't another person in sight when i inch my way closer to the checkstands. i zero in on my checker, our eyes meet and we have made a connection. I take a step closer her and then WHAM! a little old granny will come out of left-field or a mother of 15 screaming kids will edge their way in front of me. And then i will wait in that line...forever. Why not just go to another line you ask? because this sudden rush of customers happens every time i change lines.

So i stand their impatiently and tap my toes as a 7 year-old kid whips out a jar of pennies to pay for his new IPod.

One afternoon i was telling some people at work about a time when the woman ahead of me needed to make multiple price checks on each individual grape. A highly esteemed colleague offered this little pearl of advice: "Well, why don't you just bring a book with you? That's what i do when i have to wait in line. It makes the time fly by much faster." I find his solution totally unacceptable. Using this time productively would only cut back on the amount of time i have to make loud exasperating sighs and crusty glares at the woman who has a stack of coupons and insists on reminding the checker that she has a discount on every item she rings up. i mean sure, i can multitask, but i'm no whiz kid.