End of the month, you know?

I had Thanksgiving off. It was lovely, drinks and dinner friends and with family.

Worked the next day, very slow. After work, realized I needed something, fruit mostly, for breakfast. So stopped at the Shop & Save after work. Picked up raspberries, strawberries, a few oranges and some cherry juice. Also picked the shortest cashier line.

Kind of a mistake.

Maybe.

The lady ahead of me was clearly in financial stress. She had on a big jacket with lots of pockets. A green card on the counter by the register. And four stacks of quarters on that same counter. Fussing and wondering.

The cashier was so nice. The lady needed only a dollar and some change to pay her tab and thought she had dropped some under the candy and magazine rack. I looked, the cashier looked and the guy behind me looked. No change.

I'm looking to get in and out on a Friday night. Can I please go home, have dinner and read?

So.

"Can I help? What do you need?" Comes the response: "One dollar and 34 cents."

I have exactly two one dollar bills in my wallet and pass them on. The lady in front thanks me and promises to pay it forward.

Good. Can we move on?

Except no. We can't. She had another item that needed to be scanned separately and by then she had lost her food stamps card in her voluminous pockets, the floor, her purse or goodness knows where.

Her comment was "End of the month, you know?"

I gathered up my few packages and the nice guy behind me let me out. Couldn't wait anymore. By the time I checked out, he was still waiting.

Lady in distress was still fumbling and trying to find what she needed.

And the cashier was being so very kind.

And I'm so glad, because you never know when circumstance might change, that I am not poor.

*

Looking back, I think what a luxury it is to want to go home and read. After work. At a job. That pays.