Winning

Winning- adj- the act of one that wins

In semi-disgust, I dried my hands and grabbed my car keys off the table.  Who cares if it required an extra trip to the grocery store just to buy dishwasher detergent?  I did not have the patience to wash any more dishes by hand.  Off to the grocery store I went, glad I was just heading to Bi-Lo, where an old college t-shirt, grubby shorts, and adidas sandals that had seen better days was considered decent clothing. 

With detergent in hand, I headed for the self-checkout.  Unfortunately, they shut down at 8:00 p.m., and I was there at 7:56.  So courtesy of an overzealous clerk, my other choice was to wait in the "15 items or less" line.  Thinking this would be the better alternative to standing behind ladies waiting in a regular line with way overfilled "buggies," I took my place in the express line and started reading about the Mayan's prediction for peace and prosperity before the world's end in less than six months. 

A few minutes later, I was getting a little irritated.  The people ahead of me did not have their little rewards card, but they desperately wanted the $.50 off their tortilla chips.  So they recited just about every phone number they knew, hoping one of them would have a rewards card attached to the number.  This got old after they recited the tenth phone number. 

Suddenly, it hit me.  They had at least five cases of beer, and I remembered that there were extra rewards points for the brand of beer they had, plus extra points if you spent over a certain amount.  When the twelfth number failed to yield any results, I played the role of Good Samaritan and handed over my card.  They got their $.50 cents off, I got $.05 cents off for reaching $50 in purchases, $.10 for "buying" Budweiser, and $.10 for a single purchase greater than $50.   And then, I got another $.05 off on my own purchase.  $.30 per gallon off my next gas purchase was awesome, especially considering I had only spent $2.49 on dish soap!

The cashier was a little suspect of my motives though- I think she could see me mentally calculating my savings, and I had also sped the checkout process along.  But hey, ulterior motives aside, all's well that ends well.  I was happy with myself as I walked out to the car.  Topping things off, I even found a dime next to my car!

Then I went home and scheduled a trip to the beach with some friends for this weekend, because you know you have problems and need to get out of the house more when you're drooling over $.30 off per gallon of gas.  Not winning.

Last but not least, I have approximately 10 days before I venture home.  Winning.