We were on the line at the supermarket near to our house. There were two ladies in front of me, one made a major shopping, the other didn’t even need a shopping basket.

I was putting my products on the belt: a diet Coke, potatoes, cream cheese, some salty junk food. A man in his 30’s was standing behind me, holding only a bad with cold cuts. “If you have only this, you can go in front of me,” I told him. He gave me the same response I get every time I make this offer: a refusal with the shoulder, then a gesture with the mouth asking me if I am sure, and then a constant smile, once they are ahead of me.

The cashier finished the scanning of the products of the first lady on the line. It was eighty something Euros. The lady handed her a credit card, but it didn’t work. The cashier tried again, and again it didn’t work. The lady started looking and collecting cash from her purse. She was about 12 Euros short. The people in front of me were exchanging nasty looks.

The lady started to return some of the products, but was still short. She pulled out of the bags baby food, about ten glasses of them, and handed them to the cashier one after the other. After the eighth glass she was seven cents short. I pulled out my purse and gave the cashier a dime.

I finished the shopping and went out. It must have been minus ten degrees outside, but it felt much warmer.