I didn’t sleep very well last night, so I was tired, and ended up taking a four hour nap this afternoon. Now, I’m not tired, so I’m still up.

I said that I wasn’t going to blog about work, but some things just beg to be written about. Take Saturday, for example.

I was checking, and a couple came thhrough my line and bought $7.62 in groceries. I thought that they were speaking a foreign language, but wasn’t sure until it came time to pay, when the had a rapid-fire exchange in what sounded like German. She began pulling out money (it was US currency) and got the seven okay. She seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the coins, though. There was more discussion, and she began gesturing at a machine on the till that allows you to purchase lotto tickets with your groceries. More discussion, and then she asked me what the prize was. A bit surprised, I told her what the jackpots for the two main lotteries we sell were, and then it was her turn to be confused. She said “No, the price! What’s the price?”

I relized my mistake, and repeated that it was $7.62. She again tried counting out the coins, taking a minute to look on both sides of a nickel to see what it was worth. She had the proper change, but didn’t seem to have the value of the nickel correct, and tried to give me 32¢, but in the end, she let me pick out the appropriate coins and went on her way, studying her receipt the whole way to the door. A bit frustrating, honestly. Now I see why people from some countries get annoyed when Americans make no effort to learn the language/culture. She obviously had made quite an effort, and even that was annoying.

The high school play is coming up next weekend, on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. My sister is in the play, and is starting to panic a bit, but she’s always been the really organized type. They’re performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It should be a good production. I’ll have to change my schedule a bit at work, as the only night that I can see it is the last night, and I only get off in enough time to be there about 25 minutes before the show, and I expect it to be standing room only by that time.

I’m still not tired, but in the interest of getting my sleep schedule back in synch, I’m going to head off to bed now.

–Nathan