The Fruity Lifter?

Don't you just love grocery shopping?

It's a time to spend some good, old quality time with family, a time to choose the nummy yums yums you will be feasting on in the week to come, and a time to watch some of your hard earned cash go bye-bye (but with a good purpose). As for me, this week's grocery shopping challenged my integrity and faith. 

Saturday is typically the day for families to load up the van and high-tail it to the local Winn-Dixie. And yes, that's exactly what we did. Ryan (my husband), Zelda, and I piled in our Grand Caravan and headed for the Winn-Dixie right up the street from our home to embark on a new and exciting grocery shopping adventure. 

Typically, we begin in the produce section and work our way up each isle, select what we need, and cross it off the list--that is, if we follow by my shopping method; Ryan's method of shopping tends to be quicker at pace and doesn't involve careful comparison of the items. Mine is typically slower and more arduous--but, it saves us money ^_^. 

So, as we finished selecting our items we headed for the checkout line and decided to use the self-checkout devices. This is typically more fun because you can say, "Hey, I'm my own cashier, and I get push the buttons and make things go beep >_< (at least this is my way of thinking)." Though it can be fun to scan your own items, it can also be frustrating. Sometimes, discounts are not taken off as they are supposed to be, sometimes the computer tells you that the weight is not correct for the item you just scanned, or that you shouldn't remove items yet. You can easily get flustered; and I did. 

It wasn't as much fun being my own cashier. On top of things, Zelda (who has currently been teething) was getting hungry and fussy which was making me a little more flustered. I had gotten to the point where I just wanted to be done and out. 

Finally! After a few more scans and beeps I had reached the end our buggy load...so I thought. 

As I filled the buggy with our purchased goods, I began to head out the door. You know, it's said that with good their is evil--you choose which side you are on. As I headed out the door, I noticed that there were two bags of fruit--nectarines and pears--that I neglected to scan. I stopped briefly and said to myself, "Aww, don't worry Tab; it's just a few pieces of fruit. They're not going to notice." Immediately, I shook my head at this thought and was ashamed of myself for even thinking that. I did a "U-ey" for the door and headed back for the self-checkout line to purchase the almost stolen fruit.

Upon doing this, I felt as if I had accomplished something great. Though I could have easily gotten away with $3.00 worth of unpaid fruit, my heart and conscience would not have let me live it down. Other's may not have seen me, but God did; and that is all that matters. Integrity is doing the right thing regardless if others are watching you or not. A day full of grocery shopping proved be a test of integrity. Oh the joys of grocery shopping! :D