The difference between the frugal and the cheap...

Saturday was a strange day. I think I noted that before. But one lady made the day particularly memorable. She came to the register with four items in her hand. We are currently putting all kinds of things on sale so we can put up a million Christmas ornaments, so she had collected three of these four items from the aisles of things currently 80% off. She handed me the first item (a cheap basket) and asked me what the price was. I tried not to be too obvious when I turned the basket to the side and read the price to her. She then asked me a question I hear all the time: "Is that on sale?" I looked at the sales flier and said, "No." She then just looked at me. I followed up with, "Do you still want it?" "No." She said, in the kind of tone you use when people ask you silly questions. She put the basket to the side. I assumed she would hand me the remaining three items so I could ring them up. Well, you know what assuming does... She then handed me the next item. It was some cat figure with a messed up ear. The cat was two dollars. She asked me if it was on sale. I said, "Yes. It's marked as 80% off." She asked if there was a bigger discount because it was broken. I explained that by the time things are marked at 80% off, there's not a whole lot more we can take off. I asked her if she wanted this item and she said, "Not in that condition for that price." So that went with the basket. When the third of her four items was presented, can you guess what she asked? If you guessed, "Is this on sale?" You win. Of course this item was also in the clearance aisle so we had a brief conversation to refresh her memory. When the final item came into my possession and we discussed what was and was not on sale, I really thought it was possible that she would leave all four of these items with me and take nothing home. I was shocked when she actually wanted the item despite its full-price status. So there you have it--the longest checkout time for a single item.