Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!! So I ran to Target yesterday for things I actually needed and not for crap that I wanted from the Whim aisle. Well I did buy one more madras tub because it was on sale, but I actually planned to do that. So it's all good. Really though, I had to re-stock my supply of boring things like paper towels, toilet paper, dog shampoo and carpet cleaner. I did pick up a few of the cutie pink and green plush dog toys for my preppy little girl. I just gave her the flip flop and she loves it. OK, I do have a point. And it is that my cart was full of a bunch of bulky stuff. So when I picked up my case of Caffeine Free Diet Coke, it had to go on the little shelf thingy under the shopping buggy. I never use that shelf. I now know why.

So I find a check-out that is all but finished with the customer ahead of me and load all of my purchases neatly (Does anyone else do that? I am so particular about how I load the conveyor belt in hopes that they will pack it in the same order. All of this is in vein of course because they never pack it in my special borderline OCD order.) on the belt. The customer checking out ahead of me has a cart containing a child about the age of 5 I would guess. Clearly she is her grandmother. So Grandma says, "Oh my daughter might bring up one more item." I think nothing of it and as the cashier tells Granny the total, she repeats it back and starts writing a check. Just then, Daughter all but knocks me over with another cart containing another child and three handfuls worth of items. But my stuff is already up on the belt and I have now been standing there for a solid 5+ minutes because Granny gave grandchild in the cart candy for her and her brother (the kid in Daughter's cart) but told her they could not eat it now. Um, I know I don't have my own kids but that's pretty much the worst, right? As if a young child can handle that pressure to only hold the package of candy. Heck, I'm 30 and not sure I have that much will-power (and have the waistline to prove it, thankyouverymuch!). So the kid is going on and on about the candy and Grandma has to tell her no every five seconds. It's great. OK, so back to Daughter. Well since you know, Granny's transaction was complete, she has to take handfuls of her stuff out of the cart and pass it over the little receipt signing counter thingy to ring it up on the same bill. Now the boy sees the girl holding the two packets of chocolate candy and is going berserk. So Daughter finally moves her cart around the other way because I cannot move myself at this point. She sort of cornered me in there. Finally the cashier, who keeps looking at me with "I'm really sorry" eyes, gets it all totaled up and in bags. But now Daughter and Granny and the kids are embattled in more discussions (read: yelling at each other) about how you can only hold the candy but not eat it (insert PPC literally cupping my mouth shut to prevent myself from screaming "take the damn candy away from the kids for the love of all things red and round!!"). This battle is so time consuming that the cashier finally walks out of her little booth area and places the bags in the carts and sort of scoots the family of four out of the way. Granny finally finishes writing that check in the time it would take one to carve it in stone. And then has to dig down in her bag to the core of the Earth to find her driver's license. During this time, three more cashier booths open up. But since all of my stuff was already up on the belt, I figured it would take more time to remove it, pack it up in the buggy and then find a new lane. So a solid 15-20+ minutes later I am finally checking out. I am frazzled and sort of in a daze. I don't even know these people but I am overwhelmed. I am not paying attention and just want to get the heck out of dodge.

The cashier lady apologizes to me a zillion times. But it's not like it was her fault. We laughed about it, I paid and left. I packed up my car and then as I was putting the Coke in the car, I thought to myself, "did I pay for that?" I was sure I had. I just forgot because I was standing in that hot mess for so long. But then on my way home I thought about it several more times. But I came home and unloaded my car. Put everything away. Took Sadie for a walk. It was still bugging me. So I double checked my receipt. And that is when I realized that on Friday May 23rd, I became a thief! I didn't pay for it. The conveyor belt was full and I was waiting to put it up last. But then Daughter came and chaos ensued. And I forgot. It was an honest mistake. But I feel terrible about it. Do you think I should offer to pay the next time I am there? It was on sale - I think it was about $3. So I don't feel like I should drive back just for that. But I seriously feel so guilty about it. Can you still be friends with me knowing my crooked ways?