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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.
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