It's Tough Getting Old

My daughter and I recently went to Walmart to buy dog food.  Since I have 5 greyhounds I’m not looking to purchase a 10 pound bag.  I’m getting industrial sized 55 pound bags; and several of them.  The problem is I can’t lift them into the cart by myself; which is where my daughter comes in.  Not that she can lift them either, but together we can usually look pathetic enough that some poor schnook will help us out. 

Of course neither one of us remembered to get a cart to haul the dog food around until after we got into the store.  We should have thought of that in the parking lot.  Of course, once we remembered that we needed a cart, we realized that neither one of us had a quarter to get one.  We should have thought of that before we left the house. 

In my own defense, I don’t carry money since my best shopping is done with plastic.  I knew it was foolish to think that my 28 year old daughter might have a plug nickel on her since, in her own defense, her best shopping is done with plastic too, mine.  So we got in the Customer Service line to see if they dispensed fake quarters or if they would perhaps give us a cart for free, or at least offer us some advice since certainly we couldn’t be the first idiots to do something like this. 

While we were in line, I spotted a young employee of the male persuasion pushing a stack of carts into the store.  I gently encouraged my daughter to see if she could use her feminine wiles to persuade the young man to give her a cart for free.  I have no idea what she said to him, or offered him, God knows, because not only did he agree to give her a cart, but he came with us to the dog food aisle, loaded the bags into the cart, walked around the store with us while we continued to shop, waited while we paid and then came out to the car and loaded it in for us. 

Knowing I had nothing in the form of a tip to give him, I offered to buy him something while we were shopping; like maybe cigarettes or a dirty magazine or condoms, but he declined.  He was a nice young man.    

Now, on the other hand...

Here’s how the story would have read if I had asked the young man for a cart as opposed to my daughter. 

I recently went to Walmart to buy dog food.  I asked a young employee of the male persuasion if I could have a cart since I didn’t have a quarter.  I vaguely remember hearing the words “bug off grandma” as I slipped into unconsciousness after being run over by 50 shopping carts...