20 items or less

My wife got off work a little early today so I took her up on her offer of meeting her at the store to grab a handful of things we need for home. Let me emphasize that it was only a handful of things. The items on the agenda were as follows:

1. Infant acetaminophen - baby AJ is under the weather due to teething. Sad face.

2. Small bag of salad - complimentary towards the rest of what was planned for dinner this evening.

3. One two liter bottle of Diet Coke - my supply at work is almost exhausted.

4. A second two liter bottle of Diet Coke - one can never be too safe.

We head over to the 20 items or less checkout stands since it should theoretically be the fastest option for us. Even though the lines to these stands were a little longer than normal, you can expect to progress through them at a good rate since any sensible customer(s) would observe the item limit.

We were unceremoniously cut off at the pass by a couple that was probably in their late 40s. I didn't even think twice about it because I was saving my energy for more important battles - namely battling the illness that I wrote about earlier today. I quickly scanned the couple's shopping cart full of crap and you know where this is headed. They were clearly in violation of the stated 20 items or less limit. I'll try to post a picture that I took of the illegal activity, although it's pretty low quality. I didn't want to stir up anything with the troublemakers.

After sitting in line for an eternity thanks to the rule-breakers, I wanted to ask the cashier about the incident. I wanted to ask why he didn't do anything about the violation that he allowed to happen on his watch. When I was getting ready to pay, however, I decided not to. I made eye contact with the cashier and without saying anything at all he answered my question. He was simply too scared to tell the couple that they had more than 20 items. Better to leave a hornet nest alone instead of poking it with a stick.