Hurry Up!

(but also slow down)

Last week I had to run to the grocery store to grab a couple of things that I had forgotten to include in my pickup order. I made the decision to squeeze that errand in between a work call and an afternoon of household chores, the list of which was fairly hefty and unrealistic, given the amount of time I had before needing to get dinner started.

I speed-walked through Kroger with one of those miniature, “Truly-ten-items-or-less” carts, grabbing what I needed and getting myself to the registers in a matter of just five minutes or so.

The self-checkout lines were insane, which was unusual for mid-afternoon. As luck would have it, there were two staffed registers open and one of them only had one person in line (which I guess isn’t technically a line, is it?).

I rushed over to get in line behind the elderly gentleman who was stacking his groceries on the conveyor belt, smiling to myself about how I’d be out of there in no time.

As you might guess from my elaborate setup, I was wrong.

The man in front of me had about three-quarters of a shopping cart full of groceries, but the cashier was quick in ringing them up.

When the cashier stated the total, the dispute began. The man pulled out a couple of pieces of paper on which he had scribbled lots of notes in blue ink, and showed the cashier that he had come up with a different total, and several of the items he chose obviously didn’t ring up at the sale price.

I started simmering, looking at the time on my phone and sighing to myself.

The cashier had to do her due diligence by looking up the prices in the ad and calling a co-worker over to help her sort it out. Mentally I turned into that GIF of Judge Judy, slapping her hand on her bench and then impatiently tapping her watch.

Then, I took a beat and remembered that it was I who chose to shove a grocery store errand into my afternoon. Also, just the act of seeing someone dispute a charge means literally nothing, time-wise, until some time has actually elapsed. My internal reaction to this “major inconvenience” was instant, and I realized that I was being very unfair.

Additionally, perhaps this event was the universe’s way of suggesting—no, INSISTING—that I slow down for a minute or five.

Something to strive for.

Due mostly to technology, our sense of time has become warped. Emails and texts have replaced snail mail and phone calls. The 24-hour news cycle housed on countless networks replaced decades of just the morning and evening news on three or four channels. Social media as an entity has replaced simple human interaction, common courtesy, and realistic expectations of pretty much everything.

Considering all of that, I came by my expectation of a speedy grocery store experience on my schedule (and nobody else’s) fairly honestly. However, that doesn’t make it right.

As I contemplated all of this, the man was still working on getting his total adjusted, and I started to root for him. This wouldn’t be the first day I didn’t finish what I set out to do, but I’m certainly not out here saving lives or anything so my list could be continued another time.

I think sometimes it’s good to have a reminder of how much actual control we do have over what’s going on in our world and how we react to things. We have grown so accustomed to spinning out and popping off on a consistent basis, taking a moment to think, breathe, and slow down can seem like a foreign concept…but it isn’t. It’s like an old friend who makes you feel refreshed and recharged after welcoming them back for a visit.

I just need to work on inviting that friend to hang out more often.