I Didn't Mean It Nice

Yesterday I brought some clothes I'm no longer wearing to the local thrift store. While I was in the store I looked for used canvases to purchase so I could paint on them for my painting class but I didn't find any. I quickly looked through the household goods to see if I could find any slump or hump molds. I saw a beautifully shaped, low and wide wooden bowl for a dollar and decided to purchase it. It was smooth and  about ten inches across and had a flat bottom. I was thinking I wish I could make a ceramic bowl as nice as this shape.

When I got up to the counter one woman had a whole cart full, grocery cart size, of foreign made Christmas mugs she was buying and the clerk had already started to ring her up. The woman behind her had a whole cart, grocery cart size, full of clothes and various other items piled up over the top. Normally I'd just wait, but I had told Gary, who was waiting in the car, that I'd just be a minute. He hates to go in the thrift stores and gets impatient if he was to wait too long. Since we only have one car right now I don't get to the thrift stores that often. I put a dollar in the wooden bowl and set it on the counter hoping another clerk would come or the woman in front of me would suggest I could go before her. I waited while the clerk wrapped up each mug for the previous woman one by one, put them in a bag, and then in her cart. I was thinking all those foreign made Christmas mugs would probably be sold at the flea market this winter for a dollar each and she was buying them for twenty five cents each. I was thinking if I had any mugs I made I wouldn't be able to sell them.

The woman in front of me glanced around and noticed my one wooden bowl with the dollar in the bowl sitting on the counter. Finally the first woman pushed her cart full of mugs out of the store and the woman in front of me pushed her cart full of clothes piled up high to the register. At that point I stepped out of my norm and decided to ask the woman in front of me if she minded if I went before her because I only had one item. She turned and looked at me and said "I don't have that much in my cart". I glanced at her cart and said OK. Right then another clerk came up to the counter and asked if I had exact change. I said I didn't know what the tax on one dollar would be. She said six cents. I didn't have exact change but I had a quarter and a penny. I gave her the dollar and a quarter and a penny and told her to keep the change. She said you don't  have to do that. I said consider it a donation or a tip. I walked out the store and as I left I told the woman in front of me to have a nice day. I didn't say it mean, but I didn't mean it nice. I feel bad about that. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.