CALL GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS:

I have a 10-foot receipt!!!

MUSIC = Downtown Shopping Spree

I just got home from Smith's after spending 45 minutes standing at the cash register to pay for my purchases. Now that may not sound too unbelievable if I had 2 or 3 shopping carts full of groceries, but I only had 16 items, and 9 of them were packages of film I just developed. It seriously took the register 40 minutes before receipt even started printing!!!

I've been waiting for over a year now for a really good deal on film developing, and Smith's is my favorite place to get them developed. When I heard that they were charging ten cents per print (versus nineteen cents regular price), I decided this was the week to catch up on my film developing. I came in for an hour on Tuesday and another 2 1/2 hours last night. Today when I picked them up and proceeded to check out, I had no idea what I was in for. It seems that although they can ring up the initial developing costs quickly, when the 9 cent discount per print is deducted, it must be done ONE PHOTO AT A TIME. Does this make sense? Sure, we can fly to the moon, prevent serious diseases like measles and polio, and fly across the world in a matter of hours, but a grocery cash register cannot perform simple multiplication?

When we first started, each 9 cent deduction took 5 seconds (the cashier and I counted--as we had nothing else to do but stare at each other after we talked about the weather). However, nearly half way through, it began to take 6 and then 7 seconds per deduction. At one point, I think we were both seriously worried that we'd be there for an hour.

After 15 or 20 minutes, the supervisor told the man behind me that he should probably go to another register. If the manner in which he threw the groceries into his cart means anything, he was not too happy about this suggestion considering the checkout lines had tripled since he first got in line.

Today was customer appreciation day at Smith's. Every five minutes or so an employee would announce a winning number over the loudspeaker, at which time the winning customer could go spin a prize wheel to see what he or she had won. The cashier's supervisor kept coming back to check my register probably ten or twelve times; I think she began to fear I was not feeling very "appreciated." I'll admit that after 20 minutes, I was starting to feeling a bit irritated, but the poor cashier was looking so exasperated, uncomfortable, and bored standing there, that I began to find it a bit comical. After 30 minutes the supervisor apologized and gave me a $10 gift card. When I left the store after 45 minutes with my 10-foot long receipt, she came over and handed me a certificate for one of every prize they were giving away today. If I had been late for an appointment or picking up a child from somewhere, I would have been pretty tense and angry, but the longer it got, the more of an adventure it became, especially when they started handing out goodies.

Next time I come to Smith's I can get a free pie, 1/2 gallon of ice cream, pretzels, 1# of sausage, a candle, and a bag of apples, so they're assured that I'll want to return to shop at Smith's. As far as developing more film there--it might be awhile. . .