In Line At The Inconvenience Store

Sometimes, I enter the Gas Station Chicken Store expecting to wait in a long line, only to find that I'm the only customer, despite a multitude of cars outside. Saturday was the opposite. Just a few cars, but a store full of people.

There was a lady at the counter, then two men ahead of me, as well as two women on the aisle by the soda fountain. Fave was working the register. She's unflappable. Just takes them one at a time, not flustered, not rushing.

That lady had an envelope with the slips you use to buy draw tickets. The slips that you fill in the numbers, and insert into the machine to play the numbers you've selected. I would never do this at the counter! I would take such a slip to a lottery machine, and do it myself, so as not to hold up a line.

Oh, and the lady was also having previous tickets checked by Fave. You can do that on a phone app, you know! Or on the scanny-thingy they have on the counter by the door, for customers to use. Just when we though that lady was finished, we found out that she wasn't.

"Oh, I want tickets for these, too." She handed over three of the draw slips from her envelope. "Now, how much is it?"

"Nine dollars."

"Oh. And I had gas."

"Is that a debit or credit card?"

"Debit." She scanned her card. "And give me a number 11 and a number 12. How much is that?"

"Ten dollars."

"Here. Just take this." She handed over a $10 bill. "Oh. And can you give me change? I'm going to a birthday party, and I need change." She pulled out another $10 bill.

"Is a five and five ones okay?"

"Yes. That's fine. Sorry, everyone."

I don't begrudge a woman buying her lottery and asking for change. I just don't like to stand on my knees for that long. The two men paid with debit cards. Then the first lady stepped up with her soda.

"Can you wash my car for me? Ha ha. Not really. I was just wondering what else she was going to ask you for! Can you cook up a pot of pork and beans? I thought it was never going to end!"

She wasn't really being mean. She was just frustrated with the disorganization of that lady, while we were all waiting not-so-patiently. Fave got a chuckle out of that. 

I know people are seething when I ask for my scratchers. But seriously. I know what I want. I pay cash. The card scanners are what take so much time at the Gas Station Chicken Store. And people who keep thinking of something else they want.