Today is the last day of school. Finally.
I thought it would never get here. I thought we wouldn’t make it. But we have. We’re all sick with sinus stuff (except Brad), but we’re here. And after 10:00 today, the kids will be marked “present” and we can check them out and bring them home early.
Not that we will because, well, free childcare, but the point is that we could.
The teachers made kind of a big deal about telling us this. I can’t imagine why. 
And speaking of school being out, I’ve noticed a rise in fresh, young faces at all the local places I normally shop. I attribute it to the college kids being home and taking summer jobs. But I could be mistaken, because the young woman who checked me out at CVS yesterday afternoon – well, let’s just say her engine wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
First off, she took a really really long time to scan everything in. As in, I felt the earth grind to a screeching halt while I watched as she turned each item over. And over. And over again. Until she located the UPC code. This would have made sense had she been scanning in, oh, I don’t know – groceries. But I was buying cards and gift cards for teacher gifts because hey – nothing says “thank you” like the purchased-at-the-last-minute gift card.
My point is, the UPC code is in pretty much the same place on cards and gift cards.
Her speed would not have bothered me as much, except that a) I was in a hurry because we had company coming over and b) my two younger children were playing with the electronic doors, jumping in front of the sensor, then off to the side, etc. And since there were two separate doors leading in to the store, they each had their own. It was a delightful thing for a mother to watch from too far away to threaten them.
So as I stood shifting from foot to foot, trying not to be impatient, the cashier reached the end of my stuff and then started looking at one of the fliers that was sitting by the cash register. Having seen this before, I naturally assumed there was a coupon she was going to scan in that would give me a better price on something.
So I waited – again – while she looked through every page of that flier. I was just about to tell her not to worry about it, that the coupon – whatever it was – wasn’t worth the wait, when she muttered under her breath “I can’t find the UPC code”. Thankfully, there was a more experienced cashier standing close enough to her to hear her comment, and he came to her (and my) rescue.
“What’s that you’re looking for?” he asked.
“I can’t find the UPC code!” she replied, clearly getting frustrated.
“What UPC code?” he asked.
“You know, the product code, so I can scan it!”
“Oh, we don’t charge customers for those fliers. They’re free.”
It took me a moment to process it, but then it clicked – she was looking for the UPC code so she could charge me for the ADVERTISEMENT FLIER next to her cash register.
I. Kid. You. Not.
The only possible explanation I could come up with that makes any sense at all is that her brain is totally fried from taking finals. At least, that’s what I’m going to tell myself whenever I despair over the future of in our country.
