I had to dash into the grocery store this afternoon. I zipped through and made a beeline for the express check-out. The one with the clearly marked "15 items or less."
You already know where this is going, right?
The woman in front of me had waaaaay over 15 items. She had at least 30 items, no joke. It wasn't a "oops, I miscounted" or even "oh, close enough." It was a clear violation of the 15 items or less law.
I have very strong feelings about this. I am that ridiculous OCD shopper who actually takes the time to count the number of things in their cart to ensure they do not breach this rule. And if I have 16, I either question whether I really need that extra can of corn or shuffle off to the long regular lines. I dare not enter the 15 items or less line.
But this woman brazenly went forth. Her heavily made-up face was set in a grimace, as if to dare anyone to say something about her crime. She barely glanced at the line forming behind her. And suddenly a thought interrupted my self-righteous, legalistic snarling. I'm supposed to love everybody - even her.
I shuddered with disdain. "Lord, you don't really want me to show love to this person, do you?" I stalled. "She broke the 15 item or less rule! And I'm sure you mention that somewhere in Exodus, right? Right? No? You told me not to just love my enemy, but my neighbor, too? Ugh. Fine."
With a deep breath, I forced myself to shoot the woman a smile. And she smiled back at me! I might have even detected a bit of relief pass across her face, knowing that the person behind her wasn't going to start loudly complaining about their wait.
Of course, even if she hadn't smiled back at me, even if she had scowled back at me, I would've been doing the right thing. But I have to say, I was so happy she smiled. A girl needs some affirmation sometimes, you know?
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HA! Oh man, I totally count items too. I have to say, I am usually complaining when someone violates the rule. You are a bigger person than I. ;)
PS. I am GOING to finish Catholic Woman today. I promise. I'll send you an email so we can set up another "date".
As a former cashier at Wal-Mart, I love this! I was cashiering at one of these 10 Items or Less and a lady came thru with 80...yes 80 items (it says the total items at the end of the reciept.) And working in retail definitely taught me to love thy neighbor, even though it was SO HARD to love these people after getting yelled at for long lines, wrong prices, bad lighting, broken debit card machines, temperature too cold/warm....sigh...maybe I'll get a couple years taken off from Purgatory? :-)
Good for you! I always find myself complaining (mostly TO myself) in that situation. You were a wonderful Image of God to that woman!
Oh, thanks for this!
Oh, bless you darlin'. You're right -- you would've been doing the right thing anyway, but it definitely makes it seem worthwhile since she smiled back.
Who knows, maybe she was foreign and couldn't understand the sign, and was wondering why she kept getting dirty looks. Up until yours of course :)
I go batty when I have only one item, and someone cuts in front of me with about 70 items, and won't let me go ahead. I ALWAYS let everyone go ahead of me when they only have a few things. Batty. Just batty.
I am totally a 'counter' too - my first job was as a cashier at Food Lion, I was actually PAID (when working the express aisle) to tell people they had too many items - I think I enjoyed it too much sometimes!
I think that the smile back was definitely a 'you did the right thing' from God!
I think your story is awesome. Especially because I have a hard time seeing myself smiling; I wouldn't want to encourage the infraction! :) That's my thought process. However, I think that we are actually more likely to look out for others when they are looking out for us. So you actually may have made her think twice about going through the next time. Or maybe she had a very important reason that she was in a hurry and had to brave irate other shoppers by going through express... your smile could have been a huge impact on a very stressful day!
good for you - charity is certainly its own reward, isn't it? even when its so darn painful to practice it! :)
good thing its an action/virtue and NOT a feeling, or I know I'd be in big trouble :)
Once the person in front of me had 16 items. The cashier looked at her with disdain and said... "15 items, ma'am." The lady looked at her with disbelief and said... "seriously???"
I've never seen such a stickler clerk!
This is something I am very careful not to do, but I would NEVER judge someone else for it!!! Who knows what kind of hurry they were in, and why? Like taking food to the sick or something and still needing to care for their own family? (((((HUGS))))) sandi
Good for you...spread some cheer and acceptance instead of anger. Not sure I would have been the bigger person.
My kids would probably have said something like "can't that lady count?" Kim
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