THAT woman

Many of your have seen the Face Book post of the lady in Barnes and Noble going completely ballistic over a book called MISERY that they did not carry.

Comments ranged from "lunatic" to "crazy women."  

One comment said,  

"Can you believe that woman? She needs to be institutionalized."

Another said, 

"She had to be an actress just making a scene, no-one would ever really do anything like that"

Ugh but they do, they will and I did......

Since I no longer work I purposely go to the market when it is not busy. Sometimes though it backfires, they have fewer checkers so the lines are still about the same.  There is one checker, I will call her  “Martha” who drives me crazy.  She asked too many questions and is a busy body. 

On this particular day the market was not busy but there were only a few checkers. The lines were long….except for one, Martha’s.  I had other things to do, I thought, I can stand that woman just this one time.  She was  checking the lady’s groceries in front of me.  The bag girl was slow and had not finished bagging the lady’s groceries.  Martha finished her groceries and handed the lady her receipt. 

Then, before the bag girl can finish, Martha starts frantically checking my groceries.  I see them sliding into the pile of the first lady’s groceries.   Martha was blabbing as usual, asking,  what I was I going to use this for and would my husband really eat that?  I was keeping my eyes on where my groceries were since they were running together. 

The bag girl got the other lady's groceries bagged in paper bags and slipped them into a half full basket. She then pulled out my reusable bags and started putting my groceries into them.  Now I could tell them apart and I was concentrating on getting out my debit card, sliding it and putting in my preferred customer number.

Another checker walked up with her cash drawer and cash bag and said, “ I am ready when you are.”  Martha immediately said, “Sure!” and $150 into checking me out suddenly totaled my groceries out.  Surprised I said, “Wait half my basket had not been checked out!” 

Martha said,

“Oh that’s okay, you already slid you card so I will let her ring up the other half and your will just have two receipts. 

“What? Why couldn’t you have just finished checking me out?”

“My shift is over and I have to pick up my kids, this is easier.

“That’s not easier for me.”

“Here’s your receipt for what I rang.”  I put the receipt my closest sacked bag of groceries.  I put my debit card away, opened my Dr. Pepper, took a sip and when I looked around my $150 worth of groceries in my reusable bags, had been loaded into the first lady’s half empty basket and were being rolled out the front door with the lady in front of me.   The girl replacing Martha was now checking the remainder of my groceries. Frantic, I told her to stop. A strolling manager had realized there was confusion as he walked by and stopped.

“What is wrong here?”  Half of my groceries were now being rolled out to the parking lot.

“Martha just left in the middle of checking me out and the bag girl put half my groceries in the ladies basket in front of me.  I can tell mine because they are in recyclable bags.”  I looked again at the checker and asked her to please stop. She didn’t.

The line was once again long and people behind me were talking and giving me these disgusted looks.

“That’s no problem,” the manger said, “Who was the bag girl I will just go and get them.”  As he turned the bag girl came walking in.

“I screamed that is the girl and my groceries are gone!”

The checker had just finished with the rest of my groceries,  “$183.45 she smiles and says please slide your card.”

I was so upset by now I was shaking, “Why did you let the girl put my first $150 of groceries in that other ladies cart?”

The checker said,

“I didn’t check her out, you are my first customer.  All your groceries are right here.”

“No they are not.  Don’t you remember Martha totaled the first part of my groceries out so you could check into the register.”

“Ugh I was just paying attention to what I was doing, Martha was closing her own drawer out.”

By now the store manager had decided I was trying to steal $150 worth of groceries.  I was so angry I was shaking.  He said, “I will personally carry your groceries out.”

“I don’t want you to!  I want you to get the first $150 of groceries I bought.  I can’t afford to just throw $150 down the drain.”

He took hold of the basket the remainder of my groceries were and started to the parking lot. “Well you have all your groceries, I am sorry for the confusion.  I will prove that to you when we check them at your vehicle.” I opened the hatch and he proceeded to check the item against the second receipt and the proclaimed that all of the items were there.   Once again I tried to explain that Martha had checked me out on two receipts.

“Well then if she did where is the first receipt?”

“I put it in the bags that were recyclable to mark which bags were mine.”

“So you are saying that the first lady who had the basket with the recyclable bags in it has your receipt?”

“Yes!....ugh no!! It wasn’t given to her, it was MY receipt that I put in MY recyclable bag of MY groceries that the bag girl put in the other lady’s basket.”  
"Her groceries were the ones in paper bags, only the recyclable bags in her basket were mine."

"I am sorry but this makes no sense.  I have seen every way there is to get groceries for nothing but this is a first.  You are going to have to leave the premises or I will have to call security." With that he turned and walked away.

I screamed after him, “YOU JUST GAVE $150 DOLLARS OF GROCERIES THAT I PAID FOR TO THAT OTHER LADY FOR FREE!!!  I WILL NEVER SHOP AT THIS STORE AGAIN.

Crying, shaking and still screaming in my car, I noticed the parking lot full of horrified customers looking at me. Then remembered this WAS the only grocery store in town.