Carousel of Hate

I was in Super Target the other night trying to check out at 8:30 PM. There were only two lanes open on the grocery side of the store, neither of which were express lanes. There was one register with a short line, however the light was turned off which I have always understood to mean “I am closing but I will finish checking out customer who are in line.” As I noticed this I picked another lane. I watched as three people walked up behind me they stopped at the lane with the light off but with a cashier. They looked at the light then stood in line as if to say “she can certainly take just one more person”. The cashier looked up and did not even make a face, she just continued checking out the customer. Do these people believe that the rules of the queue do not apply to them?

So after observing this same scenario over and over again as I wait in lines, I was reminded of Best Buy. Several years ago they changed their checkout arrangement to have a single queue and then as you wait in line you do not have to worry about “did I get in the fast line”, “is the person in front of me writing a check” etc. If Best Buy, which moves hundreds of people an hour through at their busiest holiday times has come up with this idea for efficiency, then why have places like Target and grocery stores not considered this approach? I think with the advent of self-check out (Target… get this concept soon please) there is little to no reason for express lanes in my opinion.

I had no idea about my poor friend Aaron. If I had, then I believe I would have been more sensitive. Here he has been dead for almost 204 years. I will finish this post with a copy of the epitaph.

Uncertain life, how swift it flies
man lives tomorrow dies.
This hour in health & strength & bloom
& the very next he fills the tomb
Ask you for proof, Behold it here
And give your friend a ?? of ??.
(bottle of beer?)

We will miss you Aaron!

Now who gets his MacBook?

Ok, anyone who knows about Mardi Gras probably knows that the three items in the title do actually go together. During Mardi Gras it is tradition to have a party and serve a King Cake. Rouses Supermarket sells their king cakes online and has the following quote about the history of king cakes.

The Mardi Gras season begins on January 6th, or Kings’ Day. This day, also referred to as the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, marks the meeting of the Three Wise Men and the infant Jesus. It has become tradition to celebrate Kings’ Day and the Mardi Gras season by sharing a delicious king cake. King cake is an oval-shaped cake that is made from gourmet cinnamon dough, iced, and decorated with sugars in the Carnival colors of purple (for justice), green (for faith), and gold (for power). A tiny, plastic baby representing the infant Jesus is inserted into the cake. Tradition holds that the person who gets the piece with the baby in it is obligated to bring a king cake to the next party. The Mardi Gras season comes to a close on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.

So I was driving around today and saw a billboard for Mardi Gras which reminded me of king cakes. I told my friend Jeff about them and explained how they insert a small plastic baby (sometimes explained to represent the baby Jesus). The person who finds the baby has different rewards or responsibilities. I was joking with Jeff that if we had one and he found the baby and choked on it and died, then his epitaph could read “Choked on the baby Jesus.” No blasphemy intended.