Senior Wednesday

I hate Senior Wednesdays. I hate Senior Wednesdays. I don't know how else to put it. I hate Senior Wednesdays!

I'm pretty skilled at dealing with young to middle age adults, teens, and kids. But Senior Citizens. Oooh nooo. They are a different species.

They can't hear, they can't comprehend, I have to talk to them slowly like they're toddlers. Dealing with old people is not my idea of a good time especially when there's coupons involved. Oh my gosh!

Senior Wednesday is a special day set aside for seniors to recieve a discount on every grocery item they buy. Combine that with the new weekly ad, that starts on Wednesday, competitor coupons, and wall to wall seniors and you're setting yourself up for a disaster.

Luckily for me and my co-workers, we only have to endure this dreadful day every first Wednesday of the month. Yesterday wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't accepting competitor coupons. Old people are crazy! I felt like I was thrown into Black Friday again.

There was this one couple I rang up, I'll never forget.

"Hi. Did you find everything ok?" I asked. The elderly lady replied, "Yes. Can you tell them to pack the bags lightly?" I told her "Ok" and turned to the direction of my Service Clerks. "Can you pack these lightly?" Looking at the elderly lady they told her "Yes" and I began scanning her items for her and they began bagging her bags lightly just like she asked.

As I was scanning her items I noticed she wasn't alone. Her husband was down at the end of the belt unloading their cart that was loaded with groceries. After the order had been scanned in I scanned her small stack of coupons, accepted her payment, and began bagged a few items as well since the loading dock was still piled with groceries. See. I told you they had a really huge order. Right after I bagged her last bag with three cans, as opposed to six for the non-elderly, the woman says "Make sure you bag those lightly. My husband that can't handle it." I looked right up at the man who was down by the Service Clerks getting his groceries loaded into his cart. I immediately thought to myself, "He's the man. He's supposed to be able to handle it." Looking at him, he did appear as a weakling. I then looked over at her. She looked as strong as an elderly ox. I thought to myself again "Damn." And I laughed out loud at her because all the time I was ring up her order, I thought she wanted the bags packed lightly for her. Not once did I see it the other way around and not once did I look at their physique. The sad part about was that I couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious. Either way it goes, it made me laugh.

Classic moment. She made my Senior Wednesday.