i'm your daddy

It happens to us all..   there are 2 lines in a grocery store, right next to each other, seemingly the same length and it's up to YOU to judge which will go quicker so you can make the decision about which line to go to.

I have been faced with this decision a number of times.  And what have I come to realize?  I always make the wrong decision.

Picture this:  One line has a half empty item belt and the woman behind the current customer just has a birthday cake.  The other line has someone who was just starting to be checked out with someone behind them that had a half full cart.

So I went to the line where the people were almost done being checked out and the woman with the cake.  Seems like the right decision, right?  WRONG.  

What's funny about me making the wrong decision every time is that... not only will the line I choose be slower than the other line, but it will be excruciatingly slower than the other line.  Like I'm being punished for trying to make the "faster" choice.  You see, the clerk decided to help this small family make lots of savings.  She sent the dad out to get 2 more cases of soda so they could cash in on a sale.  When he got back, the wife sent him out to get 1 more bag of chips so they could get the sale.  And then, after they were done ringing up all the items, she was having trouble with her register so they had to wait for someone to come and help her.  The clerk then, of course, wanted party details from the woman with the cake in front of me.  So chatty!

All the while, I'm watching about 5 people go through the line I decided to avoid.

Damn it.