People Watching
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I finished shopping at a discount store and was sitting on the bench waiting for my daughter to check out. I love to watch what people buy and imagine their life style.

In about 15 minutes I saw 4 new barbecue grills, 3 people with huge garbage cans on wheels (maybe a sale), one microwave and one nineteen inch television with DVD and VCR attached. Of course I couldn't see in their bags but these were large unwrapped items.

None of these things were around when some of us were kids.

There was also a bag of grass seed and a baseball bat. I had a new hose head. Not hard to tell the season.

Some seemed very pleased and enjoying the outing, some harried, some rushed and some yelling at children.

An aged fragile woman sat on the bench across from me. She pulled out her cell phone and called to tell her husband to pick her up she was done shopping. How do I know? The young girl about 10 years old was on a cell next to her and asked her whom she was calling. We never spoke to strangers or bothered older people when we were kids. These two had a very friendly conversation.

It's easy to tell when someone is hurrying in for a needed item or when it is an outing or when they are browsing. Some people (like me) carry a list in their hand. And like me, still manage to forget to get some of the items on it.

Some people are all dressed up and some in their sweats and sneakers. There are no rules except you must wear shoes and shirts.

One woman has a red hat with a purple ribbon in it. She must be a fun loving woman who belongs to the red hat society.

While I was still shopping I observed a man on his cell explaining the different kinds of slow cookers. This could save him a return trip.

Some carts are loaded with packages, some with children. Some, both.

Some days you spend most of the time in the checkout line rather than shopping. If you're lucky enough to have a choice, you do much better shopping on weekdays when children are in school and workers not yet home.

I also enjoy watching people at the check out counters in grocery stores. I shall do a follow up article about that, because I'm getting lengthy. Have you any observations; are there any shopping trends you've noticed?

Share them with us. People watching is great fun. Like bird watching we are all so different and still so much the same in our differentness.

Where's my credit card? I'm going shopping, but when I return I expect to have lots of messages from you.

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Pat