12 February 2002

Last week, we had a brief power outage during which I discovered that of my two oil lamps, one was very low on fuel, and the other was entirely out. So I put "lamp oil" on the grocery list.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store, and did not forget the lamp oil. When I got to the checkout, the cashier scanned the bottle of lamp oil, and it did not come up with a price.

"Do you remember how much this was?" she asked me.

I don't pay much attention to the price tags, but I tried to remember. "Three... twenty-nine?" I hazarded.

"Well, I don't want to cheat you," she said, and put the oil aside. When she'd finished with the rest of the groceries, she walked off, and I wrote out what I could of the check and waited.

And waited.

And listened to the conversation the two women behind me in line were having.

And waited.

And looked around for the cashier.

And apologized to the two women behind me in line.

And waited.

And spotted my cashier, consulting with another one on the possible location. If you come over here and ask me, I thought irritably, I will tell you that I found it on... I scanned the aisle markers that I could see. ...Aisle Nine, between the air fresheners and chewing tobacco. The cashier did not come and ask, so I assumed the other cashier had answered the question.

I waited.

And waited.

A tall, thin black man, who I know is one of the managers even though he's always dressed shabbily, came over. "Where'd she go?" he asked me. "To find the price of lamp oil," I told him. He walked off, presumeably to resolve the issue for her.

She returned, and I felt relief. Finally! That was short-lived.

"Where did you find it?" she asked.

I stared at her briefly. "Aisle nine," I said, having already rehearsed this part in my head, "between the air fresheners and the chewing tobacco."

Her eyes widened. "By the chewing tobacco! I never would have thought to look there!"

I thought, but managed not to say, Yes. I know.

"You don't remember how much it was, do you?"

My jaw actually clenched. "Three. Twenty. Nine."

She rang it in, and just as I finished writing the check, the manager appeared with the information that it was actually three-nineteen.

I let them keep the extra dime. I just wanted to go home.

--Liz