How to make shopping more interesting

Last week there was a guy in the supermarket buying a bulk pack of 6 spreadable cheeses,.....and paying in 5, 10 and 20c coins.

There was a small gathering of shoppers in a loose sort of queue, staring at the lone checkout attendant making the cashier desk look like a busy bar. It was annoying but it was made more amusing by enjoying the intense frustration of other customers. Soon his colleague arrived to help him out.

The blatant hilarity of this situation was enough to make me open my backpack, search around for my phone, get it out, unlock it, read a message, then snap a picture.
I should have taken a picture of the angry, bewildered faces of the angry horde eager to pay for their wares. The lady to my right was buying just a single box of cherry tomatoes.

Some days I do this on purpose. I take 5c and 10c coins to another supermarket and use the automated checkout machines. I try to pick a time of day that's not too busy but busy enough so that there's a queue for the checkouts. I buy things that cost more than $10. Then spend 10 minutes entering my change into the machine.
But I have noticed now that most people don't really seem annoyed by this. No one has ever said anything to me. They just sort of expect it now. Maybe they think, as I do, that I need to use up my loose change somehow, and what better way to do it than at a busy Woolworths on a Sunday evening. Or maybe they just think I am strange and have nothing better to do.

Comments

An unusual shopping experience

A few days ago I was in a shopping centre near to Syndey Aquarium. I walked into a clothes shop there and started to look at the sunglasses they had on sale. A female member of sales staff walked past me, smiled and said the obligatory "hi, how are you. Want to try any sunnies on?". Standard reply of "oh,...no,...no thanks, I'm just looking thanks". Nothing unusual. I looked at the sunglasses a bit longer then slowly started to wander round the shop looking at other things. About 5 minutes had elapsed since I had entered the shop and spoken to the girl. I was now looking through their extensive collection of board shorts. Admiring the price, fabric, etc. This girl walked over and started folding clothes or doing something with clothes and hangers. I didn't pay any attention. Suddenly she exclaimed in an overfriendly way "what are you up to tonight?". I almost jumped with surprise, looked up at her, looked around to see if the question was directed ...

The social experiment

I saw this scene on Friday night in Sydney. I was standing at an intersection, a really busy intersection near China Town, waiting to meet some friends,...but they were late. So I had lots of time to stand around and wait for a break in the stream of pedestrians to take this picture. It still came out a little blurry, but I can describe it. On the left, a table of water bottles with a metal tin and a sign saying that the water bottles are $1, and then another sign saying it is unattended and that you should be honest and pay if you take a bottle. On the right of the picture is a guy kneeling on the pavement, possibly homeless, with a sign asking for money. Almost immediately this struck me as some sort of strange social experiment. Embrace your inner philanthropist by giving money to a homeless guy, buy yourself water for $1 and give no money to the homeless guy, steal a bottle of water, steal a bottle of water and give it to the homeless guy, or even buy a bottle for $1 and ...

The Dangers of Washing Up

Washing dirty dishes is a pretty tedious task, it causes arguments between couples, family disharmony about whose turn it is (to my younger sister who had an S in her name: if your name has an S in it then you only do washing up with an S in the days), friction among friends sharing a flat and one of them using 5 pans to cook bacon and egg, the point is escaping me....pretty much everyone would like to not do it. Pretty much everyone needs an excuse. This is a good excuse. A big, hairy, fuck-off spider in the corner of your kitchen. You can even see what looks like a black and white little face that looks like Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen. "Oh my....fuck me dead...what the fffffuuu..." was my reaction. Pretty colourful lanaguage looking back on it, but I was arse-clenchingly surprised. I'm not even that scared of spiders. But for those not used to seeing massive spiders (me included) this is probably one of the biggest, hairest, fuck-off spiders I have ...

You'll find me about 11,000 miles away.

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