Philosophy and a Grocery Cart

I was at the store yesterday and arrived at the checkout area. Only one lane was open. Three people were already in line, and their carts were filled. (The lack of cashiers is a direct effect of the stores only offering $11 per hour, but that's a different entry.)  I grumbled and groused and waited.  Of course, one of the people ahead of me had some kind of trouble with the transaction, and that only made the wait longer.  Meanwhile, two more people got in line.

Finally the line moved again.  The person ahead of me loaded her stuff onto the belt, and the cashier moved it forward enough so there was space for me to start unloading my own cart.  Just as I started doing so, another worker bustled into the cashier station next to us.

"I can help who's next in line," she called out.

The two people who had just now gotten in line behind me quickly shifted over to the other lane.

And I got kinda pissed off.  I had waited a friggin' LONG time in line because the greedy-ass store wouldn't offer a decent wage to cashiers, and now that I had gone through this friggin' long line, the person behind me was suddenly able to jump ahead and get checked out.  This was grossly unfair, I thought.  That person should have to wait a while, or something.  Why should they get a jump on the line when I had to wait?

And I also realized that this is the same mentality so many people have about student loan forgiveness. "I worked and slaved and starved in order to pay of MY loans, and now that guy over there, who hasn't even made a payment, might get HIS loan forgiven?  That's grossly unfair!"

Except just because something awful happened to you doesn't mean something good shouldn't happen to someone else. The "it's unfair" idea is small-minded and greedy and me-me-ME.  I don't agree with it.

But thanks to my experience in the grocery line, I do understand it.

 

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