Lines that were and lines that weren't

Today being tax day, I had to do one tax form and that was for Rittman city taxes. Having received all of my 2009 income from Cleveland, where they tax at a higher rate than Rittman, I owed no taxes. I couldn't get the extra money back from the mistake on the lake either, but then again they have one less person to catch in one of their speed traps.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I had to do my chauffeur duty for my son this morning and when I was finished, I went to Aldi to get a few grocery items. I like Aldi for some things. It seems that they are a little better than Save A Lot as far as their healthier foods are concerned. I've also noticed that their stores are a little more orderly. When I went inside the store, I didn't notice anyone at the registers. After I picked up a few items and got back to the front a line had formed about the third of the way through the store. I got a box to hold the items in, seeing I didn't get a cart when I entered the store. As I got in line, three customers let me get in front of them. This was good since I didn't have a free hand to put my ear buds on with my MP3 player. And I got into a conversation with one of the ladies who let me ahead of her. We were talking about the benefits of shopping at Aldi and how they have worked hard to establish their brand. Cashiers treat you well when they hear conversations like that.

Back home, I fix my lunch and begin rendering unto Caesar. I had to do my city tax, my sister's and my son's for Wooster. Didn't take me long, except for one thing: I have two printers and neither of them wanted to cooperate. I did manage two readable Rittman Tax forms. I finished with the Rittman tax forms and when I went to file, Kathy asked me what would I do if the line at city hall was real long. I told her I would go to the post office, buy two stamps and mail them. I had no worries at city hall. My next intended stop was to the Rittman Library to print a Wooster tax form. Only problem was the Rittman Library was closed. So I had to go to Wadsworth, as I was heading in that direction anyhow.

Wadsworth Library was open, computer was available and form printed like a charm. Best of all, it was free. In and out in, less than 10 minutes. I figured there would be a line at the Wadsworth post office. There wasn't, in and out in less than 5 minutes. Now off to Akron to babysit the grandkids.

On the way home, I had to stop at Evil Big Box Store(tm) #2966. I got the items I wanted and went to the self checkout to avoid lines that were growing at the registers. Only problem with the self checkout at this store: Unlike the Giant Eagle at the next exit, these self service checkouts do not say at the end of the transaction, "Thank you for shopping at ________"

And I can't tell a machine, "Thank you for working at________" to try to encourage them to be more courteous to their customers.