Rude Workers and Customers at the Checkout Line

I went to the grocery store today to pick a copy essentials until payday Friday. With Kroger, our church has a gift card partnership; for every dollar spent, the church gets five percent. At the Kroger in East Lansing customers have to load their gift cards at customers service. Well, I loaded mine and then went to the checkout line to pay with the gift card. It didn't work initially b/c it takes a couple additional minutes for the card to update, so when I first swiped it, it didn't go through.

I expected this to happen b/c it always happens. The grocery attendant, who's familiar with me, became annoyed and got pretty crunk with me. She told me next time to load the card as soon as I enter the store. The problem with doing this is that when entering the store, I don't know how much I anticipate spending, especially given the fact that food prices change frequently even if the customer does have a list of items (which I have). And with the price of food going up, it seems less logical to estimate the amount to put on the gift card before getting any groceries. Duh!

What ticked me off more was the customer behind me who started talking smack b/c he had to wait all but an additional two minutes for my card to go through. And for the tens of readers who know my snippy temper and smart mouth, you'll be proud to know that I didn't say a word! It wasn't worth the trouble. I just nodded politely and left the store. I'll keep loading my friggin' card when I feel like it!

PC