So I went to the grocery store last night to pick up a few things for dinner. I breezed through the produce department and picked out a few things to make my impending salad complete - romaine lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and carrots. No need for a little hand basket, since I have so few items, and surely I'll be able to get out and back home quickly. I speed over to the self service checkout lines, but notice that one is out of service, and there's a line for the rest. Or several lines, even though there's a little sign suggesting that people should line up in a single line. But the self service checkout line is a different story altogether. So I decide to line up in the express lane - no more than 15 items(!) ... since there's only one woman in that line.
So I line up behind her. She visibly counts her items, I suppose to make sure she doesn't break the "15 items" rule. Good, glad she's a little conscious of ethical actions. But, her groceries are all spread out on the conveyor belt, taking up much more room than they needed to. Fine. A little rude, but I can forgive many things, including slight unintentional rudeness. The person in front of her is taking a while to pay, so I have to stand there, holding all my vegetables, no doubt speeding their eventual spoilage due to holding everything in hand.
Then it's her turn. But she produces a packet of papers or something. Interesting. Especially with that gold ankle bracelet she's wearing. But her groceries are mainly stuff for kids, or at least seemingly appropriate for a household with lots of kids in it - 3 gallons of milk, several jugs of fruit juice, eggs, etc.
Then I notice the cashier rings up three items, writes something on one of the slips of paper from the packet, punches in a long series of numbers into the register, opens the drawer, and puts the slip of paper in the drawer. Cashier rings up three more items, writes something on another slip of paper, punches in a long series of numbers into the register, and puts the slip in the drawer. I longingly look to the self service lanes, and notice the person I would've been behind in the primary line is using the self service machine. I would've been next, assuming no one decided to form their own line and cut me off.
The cashier rings up three more items, writes something on the next slip of paper, punches a long series of numbers into the register, and puts the slip in the drawer.
By this time, I've already gotten out my money, and my Jewel card, just to go as fast as absolutely possible. Did I mention I'm trying to get home to eat?
The cashier rings up three more items, writes something on the next slip of paper, punches a long series of numbers into the register, and puts the slip in the drawer.
I again longingly look to the self service lanes, and notice the person I would've been behind in the primary line is done. I would've been ringing up my own items, assuming no one decided to form their own line and cut me off.
The cashier rings up three more items, writes something on the next slip of paper, punches a long series of numbers into the register, and puts the slip in the drawer.
Finally, she's done - 15 items! The cashier asks her if the groceries behind the grocery divider are hers (no, they're mine, that's what the grocery divider is there for!), of course she says no. The cashier performs a little more bookkeeping caused by the slips of paper she "paid" with, and then the woman in front of me (and I assume her husband) finish bagging their groceries, and finally it's my turn.
I'm out in record time! Jewel card, four items, cash at the ready, bing bang boom - I'm done! I rush out to my car, and notice that the car I parked next to was in fact owned by the woman (and what I still assume to be her husband) - and they're finishing loading their groceries into their SUV. Er. Their SUV?
I get a little closer. The woman puts her cart in the cart corral as I pass by, close enough to see what kind of SUV it is. It's a Lincoln Navigator.
You know, a Lincoln Navigator. Hailed thusly: "Navigator set the bar as the premier luxury SUV". MSRP apparently starts at $46,575.
I'm absolutely floored.
Can anyone very kindly explain to me what method of payment this woman and her husband were using to buy their groceries, three items at a time, no other money exchanging hands, no paper, no plastic?
Can anyone explain to me what lottery these people have won to pay for their groceries? Is it the grocery lotto? "Congratulations, winners - you get free groceries, but you can only pay for them three at a time with these special coupons!"
I have a sneaking suspicion that in fact these slips of paper that required the purchase of three groceries at a time that requires a lot of extra time and bookkeeping on the part of the cashier and that restricts the groceries to basic necessities etc. are actually either welfare, LINK, or some other government subsidized financial assistance.
A show of hands please. What kind of government subsidized financial assistance gives people groceries for free, and yet lets them have enough money to drive around in a Lincoln Navigator?
