Jewel vs Mark

"What?!  You bought beer, and it wasn't on sale? Stop putting things in the shopping cart when we go shopping."

Mark and I were sitting in the car, in the Jewel parking lot, and he was going over the receipt. He was not liking what he was seeing. For the record, the Corona Beer was on sale, one dollar off regular price.

"Whaaa... Squawk... sputter... What kind of coffee did you buy? I told you Maxwell House. It was supposed to be Four, ninety nine, not nine dollars."

I took a deep breath.

"I bought Maxwell House. If they charged you too much, that's your problem. Your responsibility is to stand there and watch the cashier."

"Go back. Go back in and get my money back."

So like a good boy I go back into the Jewel. I find the service desk and point out the error to the lady behind the counter. She is crabby, not in a good mood and gives me the stink eye as she turns to the cash register. "Do you want that back on your debit card?"

"No, I left that out in the car."

She gives me a look as if I were stealing money from Mr. Jewel, or her own purse. Back out in the parking lot, I open the car door and hand Mark the money that had been returned along with the receipt. I start the car and begin backing out when Mark lets loose with another tirade.

"Go back! Right now, go back. They overcharged me for spaghetti sauce."

"Okay, that's it. From now on you have to do all the shopping. You have to put everything in the cart. You have to stand there and make sure you're not overcharged."

"Just go get my money back."

So again, I go inside to the service counter and show the crabby lady the receipt, and explain that the spaghetti sauce was supposed to be two for one. With a sneer and a slight shake of her head, the lady places the money in my hand. I know what you're thinking, 'Why does he put up with all that crap from Mark'? The answer is because Mark feeds me.

Fifty two years ago Jewel Foods hired me as a stock boy. Every Wednesday evening, the day before sales started, we would get a list of what was going on sale. As a stock boy I had to take that list and erase the price on each and every piece of stock on the shelf, then put the new sale price on it. There were no computers, no scanners, only stock boys. Now all the store has to do is download the sale prices into the store computer and they're done. No excuse for getting it wrong. Seriously, next time I will stuff Mark into the shopping cart and wheel him back into the store so they can deal with him in person. He'll wipe that sneer off the service counter lady's face.