You must be so patient

Long ago, I worked at a grocery store. I worked there for a long time. Seven years actually. If you have ever worked at a grocery store yourself, you know that is approximately equivalent to 25 real life years. But that is not my point.

My point is that customers would often ask me, "What exactly are your future plans?" They might do this after asking me to put a plastic bag inside of a paper bag inside of a plastic bag. Other times they would ask after requesting that I put each of their 100 items in a separate bag. (Seriously, we were not so eco-friendly in 2000). I always answered, "I want to be a special education teacher."

Sometimes I did this while counting out their $19.50 total that they had decided to pay in change that they dropped onto the conveyor belt rather than my outstretched hand. Or while I listened to them instruct me on how to bag each and every item. ("My ground beef must be on top of all other meat or else it will be squished! Don't put a hole in the plastic wrapping of the paper towels because then I will make you get a new one for me!") "Oh, you must be so patient!" they would exclaim as requested that I price check the item they bought against a similar item that I would have to go find somewhere in the store.

My response was always the same too. "I guess I am."