This line comes with help
Have you ever picked the “wrong” line at the grocery store? The line that moves so unbelievably slow that you contemplate switching to another cashier, but also feel somewhat pot committed to staying in the current line you’re in? Like a magnet being pulled in by an unseen force, somehow no matter how much logic or intuition I apply to choosing the “right” grocery line, I OWL-ways, without fail, end up in the slowest-moving, gut-wrenchingly long, and almost too painful to watch, line of people attempting to check out their groceries.
You got coupons? Writing a check? Forgot an item on aisle 4? Perhaps your cashier is ready to go on break or her drawer ran out of the change you need? Wherever these people are in the world, I seem to be find them. So when Dan suggested we pull up our overly full cart to the self-check out, whoo was I to speak up and say, “No, this is a terrible idea. We need help…”
(Enters the narrator in the Morgan Freeman narrator voice) It turns out on this particular day and time, Katie was, in fact, the “right” person to speak up and suggest a different line. But alas, this story wouldn’t be quite as witty or wise without making the “wrong” choice.
It’s the height of the pandemic and grocery lines are LONG. In addition to the long lines, I find wearing a mask in the grocery store very disorienting. It throws off my depth perception and adds another layer of distraction to my ADD brain. But I digress. The lines are long and Dan decides the self-check out line is much shorter and will therefore be more efficient in getting us in and out of the grocery store as quickly as possible. In a weak, less than self-assured voice I piped in to say, “Our cart is overflowing with groceries, maybe we should have a cashier check us out…?” At least I think I voiced this out loud, but to be honest, whoo knows. Perhaps I said it in my head. Either way, Dan, confident in his grocery-line decision and not interested in anyone helping him, pushes the cart up to the self-check out and begins scanning our groceries.
(In my robotic self-check out voice) BEEEP Please see cashier for assistance. BEEEP Please see cashier for assistance. BEEEEP BEEEP BEEEP
For a man whoo didn’t want anyone to help us check out our groceries, Dan sure did get a lot of help from the self-check out cashier. I can’t prove it, but I have a strong feeling her fingers drew blood and the card she kept scanning fell apart after OWL the times she had to come over and assist us as we “self” checked our groceries. I would like to say that I was patient and found OWL the wit and wisdom in this moment, but alas, I cannot tell a lie, I was BEEEP!
It was somewhere around the 20th item and 13th BEEEP that I started contemplating whether or not I could possibly date a man whoo thought it was a good idea to bring 100 items or more to the self-check out lane. (BEEEP) Sigh, as I waited yet again for assistance at self-check, trying my best to bring my brain to Sage mode and stop stewing about something we can’t control, I completely lost it inside. No wisdom to be found, no wittiness to take the sting away, I was experiencing a full-blown tantrum in my head. If only we had just picked the line at the grocery store that came with help…
(Insert narrator voice here) It turns out that Katie was “right,” and Katie was also “wrong.” There’s soo much wisdom in making mistakes, and with great wisdom comes OWL the wittiness. Katie would soon return home to a boy she could date, because they could laugh together at this 30-minute mistake and learn from it. What more could a girl ask for from a simple mistake at the self-check out line?
Where in life do you choose not to get help, even when the universe makes it an option? What about you believes braving it alone without support is better than waiting just a bit longer for much needed help? More importantly, whoo will soar alongside you as you strengthen your own wit and wisdom in this world? Is it me? No lines, no waiting here! Schedule your OWL-standing connection call today!
