Suspicious characters

I tried, for the second time in a week, to go to Kohl's today. Chris bought a bunch of stuff there last week and got a voucher for $30, so I wanted to go before it expired. The first attempt was aborted after someone had a temper tantrum in the lobby because only the one-seat carts were left. The second time began much more productively but as always it took twice as long as I had anticipated, and we were pressed for time because it was almost time to pick Katie up from school. So we waited, third in line, for a few minutes while an almost comatose woman sllllooooowly scanned half a dozen candles, pausing after each one to stare blankly at the cash register screen, then slllllooooowly set the candles down on the counter (not in a bag, mind you - that was another step for us to anticipate). After about five minutes of this (number of candles scanned: three) an older woman behind me politely requested the clerk to call for help. So the clerk rolled to a stop, and slllooooowly picked up the walkie-talkie thing, and in a leisurely drawl asked for assistance. Then back to the candles. Sllllooooooowly.

When the woman patiently waiting to pay for her candles produced a coupon, and the clerk again ceased to function as she considered the myriad ways she could process it, I gave up and walked out of the line. And now we come to the point of this whole story -- I left the line, and the clerk again stopped to reassure me that, at some point before closing, someone else might show up to speed things up. I replied that I really couldn't wait any longer because I needed to pick up my daughter from school. The people left waiting were all watching this, probably contemplating whether it was better to follow my example or continue to rot in line. Beth surveyed this scene, and as I rolled the cart in the direction of the door, in her wonderfully loud and clear voice said, "Mommy, are we going to steal this stuff?"