Holiday Spirit In Abundance at the Local K-Mart

So I have been wanting some under-crib storage for awhile now, to organize the extra sizes of clothing we've gotten for the baby. I wanted one of those shallow Rubbermaid/Tupperware things that rolls underneath the crib, so it gives you extra storage without taking up extra space. I'm sure Wal-Mart carries these, but because Wal-Mart is such a zoo these days, and it's farther away, I ended up at K-Mart. I found what I wanted and got into one of several very long lines.

There were probably four people in line in front of me, and as I stood there with my one item, I felt the irritation of the shoppers around me. I was surprised that at lunchtime on a Wednesday the lines would be so long, the shoppers so grouchy. I whiled away the time looking at all the candy bars and trying to decide if I felt like eating one. Finally, it was the turn of the woman in front of me. She made her purchases, and paid for them, dropping a bunch of change and some keytags on the floor, then re-packing her bags to her liking, etc.... I just figured I was in no hurry so I wasn't going to complain. When she moved along, I lifted my storage bin so the girl could scan it, smiled, and said, "Hi." She just stared at me.

"Just to let you know, this is a handicap line."

Kind of caught off guard, I said, "Oh - I'm sorry. I didn't know..." and started to look around for where it was marked. Not to worry, she pointed out the sign. I said, "I didn't even realize that you guys designated handicap lines." A new thought coming to mind, I turned to my left, expecting to see a line of folks in wheelchairs and on crutches, ready to lynch me.

Nope. Not a one. Each as able-bodied as the next, and none less so than I.

The cashier said, "There's this one ... and that one ... and that one," pointing out the small, wheelchair-stamped squares on the designated posts.

Again I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know," looked to my left again, and said, "It's a handicapped line." Everyone in line started looking left to right and there were murmurs of, Oh! I didn't know! and Where is it marked? and I didn't realize... Finally one woman said, "Well there's no one handicapped here!"

THANK. YOU.

And come to think of it, the woman in front of me, who had bent over to pick up change and keytags and repacked her own bags - she wasn't handicapped either! In fact, if you want to be stupid about it (and someone had already chosen to do so), I, at 9 months of pregnancy, was the closest one to handicapped in the whole line! SO BACK OFF, SISTER.

You want to know the best part? The blasted thing doesn't fit under the crib.