I was making our annual hallowe’en chili today when I realized that I was short on a couple of ingredients.  We are fortunate enough to have a couple of grocery stores nearby, so I ran over to the closest one, expecting a quick trip.  The store was packed, so I grabbed my items and picked a short line.  There were a few people in front of me, giving me the chance to catch up on twitter while I waited.

We moved along quickly and soon enough I was second from the front.  The woman in front of me only had bananas, so I started to pay attention at this point.  This was approximately the same time that the conveyor belt decided not to stop and create a grocery pile-up at the front of the line.  The cashier realized that the foot pedal was stuck, so she reached down and freed it while the banana-lady and I tried to save the groceries.

We laughed it off and the cashier started to ring in the order when a voice behind me said, “It’s your fault you know.  You young people are always fiddling with your phones, thumbs always going.  It drives me nuts!”*  The cashier and I both tried to explain that it was a malfunction, but she was having nothing of it.  She kept going on and on about how her groceries were crushed, and that I was responsible, as I had not been paying attention.  The crux of her argument was that I was “so busy with my phone” that I failed to put the separator bar between our orders, and this caused the conveyor to keep advancing.**

I’ll admit that I was playing on the phone, but I did not cause this in any way.  She was kinda crazy, but I tried one more time to explain that there was a mechanical issue, but she was adamant, so I dropped it.  After I had paid and was moving away, the cashier hit the pedal again, and once more it stuck.  Her pre-cooked chicken took a direct hit this time, lid popping off while making that distinctive crackling noise. I walked away smirking in the knowledge that I had nothing to do with it this time.  This time, she blamed the snow that fell last night.  Maybe kinda crazy doesn’t quite cover it.

*note that she referred to me as young?!  I call that a win*

**the seperator bar would not have prevented this crushing grocery pile-up, but her argument did get me thinking about who was responsible for placing the bar in this case.  While I generally don’t use the bars, preferring to mess with the people who go wackadoodle if the bar is not in place, I actually did use it this time.  I put the bar between the groceries in front of mine and mine.  Am I also responsible for putting the bar in behind my groceries?**