particleguy

This morning I stopped by the deli to get a sandwich and chips for lunch. I decided to check Safeway to see if they had Coke on sale. Inside up front I did find a large display of Coca-Cola products in 12-packs. The sign said: "Sale on all Pepsi products. Buy two, get two free." Hmmm. The display was right across from the customer service counter, so I waited a few minutes while a guy got his $2.68 refunded. Then I asked the woman behind the counter about the display and sign. She sighed. She doublechecked their sale flyer, and then walked over and removed the sign. "Do you want Coke? I can give you the sale price if you do," she said. I said sure, and she said to bring them to her. I went outside to get a shopping cart and then loaded in three cartons of regular Coke, and one Diet Coke for the missus.

Did I need anything else? I decided no, and rolled over to the customer service counter. The clerk was helping someone else, a woman about 40-45. I chilled, checking my email, etc. I noticed that the woman was buying a bunch of gift cards, which the clerk was activating. She looked over to me and said, "Sorry, this will just be a few minutes." "No problem," and I continued to check my phone.

Shortly, the activations were done and the total rung up. The customer proceeded to pull a pile of cash from her purse. At first, I wasn't really paying attention, and then I was trying not to stare. But the clerk was counting many 100-dollar bills. They came with little paper bands around the stacks. The clerk said something like, "You must have just come from the bank." Trying to be surreptitious, I counted along as the last stack was tallied: 20. There had been one other full, banded stack, plus more. I hadn't noticed if the first pile had a band. But this customer had just shelled out between $4000 and $6000 cash at Safeway.

Granted, it was the Sharon Heights Safeway (in Menlo Park), but still...