How Do You Handle Being Stuck in Line?

Have you ever ended up spending a crazy amount of time at the cash register while the person in front of you asks for a price check or decides they don't want an item?

This time of year, when people are doing extra shopping for their Thanksgiving feasts, the grocery stores are extra crowded and shoppers seem to be more stressed out.

I try to shop with a smile on my face and a positive attitude. I am zen about the carts blocking the shelves, I laugh when a shopper tries to race past me and crashed their cart into me instead, and I say hello to anyone whose eye I catch as we try to navigate around each other.

But last week I almost lost my cool TWICE.

Each time, I got stuck in line for AT LEAST 15 minutes, behind people who had to argue with the cashier.

In the first instance, the guy in front of me swore that an item was rung up at the wrong price, and we all then had to wait while the cashier called a manager, who then left with the guy so that he could show her the sign he saw saying his item was on sale (it wasn't, he read the sign wrong). They were gone for at least ten minutes. My stuff was already on the belt, and the cashier said it was against policy to void his order to continue ringing up the other customers in line. Infuriating.

In the second instance, I got stuck behind a couple when the husband decided that the electric toothbrush he was about to purchase was overpriced and he wanted it voided from the order. That's when he and his wife and the cashier got into a long discussion about how he should keep it because it would cost about the same anywhere else, and then they'd have to waste time going to another store. After the husband still refused to listen to his wife's logic, we had to wait while the cashier called over a manager to void the product. At which point, right after it was voided (and 15 minutes after we had all been trying to keep our sanity in line behind him), the husband changed his mind and decided he wanted the toothbrush after all.

What are your latest shopping nightmares?