Soap in the Fountain
One thing Self-Checkout has taken away from us is waiting-line banter and eavesdroppings. Cart loaded up, I decided to get in a regular checkout lane. Seeing everyone had as much or more groceries than I did, I walked on, trying to choose where to wait. I passed up the line with the screaming infant, the line with the arguing couple, and opted for the guy with a lifetime supply of paper goods piled in his mini-cart.
Remember how long it took Walmart to get Self-Checkout and the mini-cart? They wanted us to have a cart so large we had to fill it full of things that were too good of a deal to pass up. And, we were supposed to sit in the checkout line and add point-of-purchase products, too. Our Walmart isn’t as large as most others, so the mini-carts fit really well in the aisles. People tend to be ‘tralinear’ (See Blog post from Jan. 30 for definition) with the mini-cart, loading everything they can fit as if it were a mass-volume displacement toy.
It’s no surprise when one-of-a-hundred Kleenex boxes falls out of his cart. As I give it to him, he thanks me and I notice his ECU alumni sweatshirt. Turns out he graduated a few years before I did. We reminisce about college days in eastern North Carolina in the 80s. Dime draft at the Elbow, Happy-Hour at Cubbies, punch cards for Drop-Add, Hank’s Homemade, etc.
When I chose this line, I thought I had nothing in common with him. Walking away, he hollers back at me, ”Ever put soap in the fountain?” I smile, remembering a covert mission in the wee hours of the night during exams. Dressed in black, three of us headed out with the little Tide boxes from the Jarvis laundry room.