Today I was so irritated by the non-hustle-and-bustleness of peeps in Target.  All I could do while in the checkout line was laugh.  And shake my head.  Seriously.

I had about five minutes to get through the checkout line, carry my loot to the car, load it, get in the car, back out safely, drive away, and get home in time so that D could take N to school on time.  As I picked up my final item and threw it in the basket, I made my way to a packed checkout lane area only to see that lane 25 actually looked rather short.  Score!  Or, not.

The lady in front of me had just a few more items left on the conveyor belt so I proceeded to load my goods and smile.  Surely I'd be outta there in just a few minutes.  Not so, I soon found out.  The slow-moving trusty Target employee was too busy chit-chatting about holiday shopping and how much she loved to "make the computer behave" (I can only imagine what she meant by that).  And as if that weren't enough, when she finally did finish scanning everything, the customer (a middle-aged suburban mom, no doubt) busts out a fistfull of coupons.  Yeah, you can imagine the look on my face and the "Pffff" that came out of my mouth.  I was feeling particularly self-centered by this point since I had TONS to do.  Nevermind that I, myself, actually had a coupon of my own to use.

There wasn't much I could do except sit tight and wait for the cashier to scan each coupon meticulously and of course, each one did not scan as planned so she had to press a button on the register, then re-scan.  When that didn't work she pushed the register button again and then manually typed in the barcode for the coupon.  This went on for the entire stack of coupons, people!  I was seriously fuming.

FINALLY the coupons were done.  And what does lady who's checking out do?  That's right….she busts. out. her. CHECKBOOK!  I was beyond having had enough.  So the lady makes her stinkin' check out, hands it to the cashier – and WOOPS – wouldn't you know it – forgets to sign the check!  I almost rammed my cart into her left shin. Then I remembered I was supposed to be in the Christmas spirit.

After signing the check and moving on about her merry way, it was FINALLY my turn!  I had just a handful of items and after totalling me up, I handed the cashier my coupon for $1 off.  This girl needs to retake the Scanning Survival module of her Target Employee Training Program.  She could not get this thing to scan to save her life!  And, on top of that, it was a Target coupon - not a manufacturer coupon so we both knew it was legit!  But then she really pissed me off.  She handed the coupon back to me and told me that I would need to take it to the service counter to get my $1 back because the register just wasn't letting her scan it.  I took a breath and then laid into her.

And, no, I really don't feel bad about it either.  ♥