As usual, I find entertainment in many of the things I do. Right now, I pretty much just go to work, the post office, and the grocery store. Other than that, I’m entertaining myself at home. Of these places that aren’t home, the grocery store seems to have the most entertainment, but I can’t always see it at the time. Sometimes, I need to reflect on the trip in order to see it. Other times, it just comes to me.

Check out time is entertaining to me. Most people are grouchy these days. I try to not be, but I know that I can be. The checkers and baggers aren’t happy to see me with three orders. I don’t dawdle, and I am ready with the payment for the first order before the second order is ready to be rung up. It works. The checker is usually confused, but it works out.

I usually try to chat with the checker and bagger. Most of the time they are too tired or busy to do more than say hi. I understand. But I still try.

The last time I went, the checker and the bagger asked if I was shopping for Instacart. No. Just family members who can’t get out, and I’m already at the store, so I add their lists to the cart. I do request that they put one order in the child seat, one order in the big part, and one order at the bottom of the cart. It’s easy to sort in the car, and then I usually get the right items to the right household.

The baggers are usually fairly new and don’t seem to understand the basics. I had one bagger tell me that I have a bag of eggs in the cart, with chips on top, so I should be careful. Ok. Thank you for the heads up. Next thing I know, she puts a 2 liter bottle of soda on top of the chips and eggs. I move it, and then she replaces the bottle with a gallon of juice.

The next time I saw a bagger, I had a lot of bread in the cart. I told him, kiddingly, that if he could put the bread on the bottom and the rest of the groceries on top, that would be great. He looked at me and said, “I’m sorry. They train us to not do that.” The checker told him that I was kidding. The checker thanked me for not being a grouch like most of the other people who had been through that day.

Another checker in the lane next to me was closing. Break time. I hear him tell the line, “please don’t get in this line, I’m closing.” “Please don’t put your things on my belt, I’m closing.” “See? My light isn’t on. I’m closing.” over and over. Eventually, it was in a monotone. As he’s counting his drawer, I look at him from the line I was in. “Are you closed?” He looked at me stunned. I explained that I was kidding and I had heard him, and I work in a hospital and was used to people ignoring instructions. He laughed and said that he was happy that someone understood how he was feeling and had had a rough day. He thanked me for the laugh.

I am entertained by the people who wear their masks around their chins. How do you expect it do anything when it’s covering nothing? Even if it’s just covering your mouth, your nose isn’t covered. Where do you think you breathe from?

I am entertained by the people who don’t understand that if there are six inches between me and the shelf on the left, and six feet between me and the shelf on the right, passing on the right is acceptable. Passing on the left is nearly impossible. Even if you are six inches wide, your cart is more than that. Maybe think about where things fit?

Remember, we are all going through a tough time right now. Supplies are limited. People are stressed out. Be kind to each other. Laugh about what you can. Be grumbly in writing, not to their faces. A lot of people just don’t understand that there are other people who might be having a bad day, or they just don’t realize there are other people around.