Mercedes Benz and Dryer Sheets

On my way home tonight I had to stop by the grocery store to pick up some last minute necessities....milk, bread, cheese, noodles, jalapenos, cheese nips, cookies...you know, the necessities! :-)

So I make my way through the store, only being stopped once by an elderly man applauding my ability to use my Blackberry as a shopping list - "I used to bring in a sheet of paper for my list and you're all electronic. Good for you," said the nice man. And he seemed genuinely sincere with his comments.

I finish my shopping and head over to the checkout...I get to the checkout and of course there's only two lanes open, ala Wal-Mart.

I'm one of those people that when I get in a lane, I stay there, even though other lanes may move faster - I don't know if it's not wanting to fall into the "Office Space" syndrome where I know that as soon as I change, the line I was in will inevitably begin to move....or if I'm just stuck in my ways. It also usually always goes without saying that if have the slightest inkling that I should be in a different lane (whether it's in the car or store), I should listen to my gut. But in this case, like 99.9999999% of all the other cases, I didn't listen to my gut and as a result, I have a blog topic!

So, I get in Lane 3 and see three people standing around the cashier. That should have been hint #1 to move, but no....

There's also a very sharply dressed woman standing there holding her checkbook out, looking very perturbed - hint #2 - and a man behind her, in front of me.

The cashier then says to the lady, apparently repeating herself for the second or third time, "That will be $101.80."

The female shopper (aka "nice lady" from here on out), whose groceries were predominantly Publix brand, preceded to then say, "Which of these are cheaper?" while holding up 2 store brand pack of dryer sheets. I'm only assuming they were different scents.

The cashier says, "I'm not sure, I'll have to ring them up again to see, but they should be close to the same."

That response was followed by, "I'm only paying for the cheaper one."

So, since the transaction had already been completed, the cashier had to price check the items for the "nice lady" who was only going to pay for the cheaper one ("nice lady" being said with tongue-in-cheek).

Turned out to be a $0.40 difference between the two.

The cashier then preceded to tell the shopper that she would have to take her receipt over to customer service and have them return/refund the "more expensive" pack or she would have to re-ring all the other groceries.

When I heard that, I was thinking to myself, "surely she'll just keep the $1.80 pack of dryer sheets. After all, she did take both of them off the shelf and put them in her grocery cart so she had some inclination of wanting them both." But I was wrong....

She wrote her check - how 1999 of her - haha - and was finally out of the line. Thank goodness. My milk was starting to spoil. The man in front of me made it through with no issues and then I got through.

As I was leaving, I noticed the "nice lady" in a pretty heated exchange with the Customer Service rep - I couldn't hear what they were saying but I knew I was glad to not be the Customer Service person.

I headed on out of the store thinking to myself, "man, all that for $0.40", and started feeling a bit sorry for the lady. After all, times are tough and every penny counts.

Well, that feeling quickly faded.

As I was taking my grocery cart back, I looked beside me and there was the "nice lady" -- loading her groceries in her Mercedes Benz.

If that's what it takes to afford a Mercedes, I need to rethink the way I shop....