I think it’s a sign that you’re becoming much less uptight when, at the checkout in Sainsbury’s on a Saturday afternoon, with the entire population of Ballymena doing their shopping under one roof, and several people waiting behind you in the queue, your card is declined and you don’t start to cry there and then.
I think it’s also proof of the need for the little hidden stash of Emergency Cash that so many people have warned me against having. (Don’t worry, it’s gone now. Just try robbing me.)
I think the journey from Sainsbury’s to your place of residence actually becomes longer in direct correlation with the amount of cash you are on your way to retrieve, with the knowledge that your trolley full of neatly packed groceries is waiting to be paid for at Customer Services.
I think it takes great bravery and humility of character to run breathlessly walk back into Sainsbury’s and hand over your Emergency Cash Stash in such a situation, especially if, say, you used to work in Sainsbury’s and will more than likely know the person behind the desk.
I think it’s character-building to be putting away your half-thawed, dripping groceries whilst staring at the hastily-obtained cash machine print-out of your account ‘balance’, prompting the sinking, sobering realisation that you may have to make said groceries last for a very, very long time. (Or alternatively, that your weight-loss is about to start going really well.)
I think it’s good to get a wake-up call about your unwise, frittering-style spending habits at the checkout in Sainsbury’s as opposed to being evicted because the direct debit for your rent was refused, or the repo men coming to take away your car due to payments not being made.
And now I think things are going to have to change…
Filed under: Fear, Mishaps, money, Sainsbury's, worry
Why is the end total on my grocery bill ALWAYS one or two quid more than I’m carrying? Last time that happened, the checkout lady spotted me a fiver when she read the mild panic on my face. I think she understood. I think we all get too enthusiastic sometimes.
You know it’s getting really bad when you bring your slush-funds penny jar to pay for groceries.
As my Grandmother used to say “We would have a great time but for our tummies!”
From now on, I’m on a budget. I hope this means I don’t become Scrooge, but I may have to…
I didnt know you had a blog!! Stumbled across it via ..bebo/facebook/myspace. They have all blurred into 1. My workmates all think I’m mad cos have been sitting laughing at the computer.