Lending A Hand

This afternoon I made an Aldi run to get produce for the week and pick up a few extra items I need for for Thanksgiving.  While I was there I also had the opportunity to do my good deed for the day.

If you're not an Aldi shopper, a little explanation is in order.  The store is busy on Sunday.  There's always has at least one cashier working, but they don't open additional registers until the lines get long. When I was ready to check out today two stations were open, but one had five baskets past the end of the belt,  The other had one.  I knew they'd eventually call an additional cashier up, but in the meantime I chose the shorter of the two lines.  When I got there I figured out why it was so short. Other shoppers were avoiding that line because the elderly man ahead of me had an overflowing basket, the fullest I've ever seen.

However, when I took a second look I realized the basket was filled with flats of canned vegetables (which the cashier would be able to ring up en masse) and bags of potatoes (which she could count and multiply by the quantity).  The man should get through the line pretty quickly.

While we were waiting for our turn we struck up a conversation.  The man explained he'd come in to get a couple of things for himself, but when he saw that the bagged potatoes were on sale he decided to get some for a local food bank.  Then, since he'd be going there anyway he decided to add the canned goods too.

When it came time for him to put his food on the belt I noticed he was having trouble lifting the vegetable flats from the cart.  I told him I was at a better angle and I'd help him.  He handed me the flats, and I put them on the belt.  (I'd like to say that my motives were completely pure.  However, I also figured that getting his things up quickly would mean it would be my turn faster.)

The cashier saw the man putting all the bags of potatoes on the belt, and told him to just leave them in his basket.  As I suspected, she made quick work of his large quantities of the same items.  After the man paid for his purchase, she turned to my things on the belt.  When she started to put my lettuce in the man's basket I realized she didn't know we weren't together.

Five years ago today: Hooray For Me!