A Sticky Situation

There are days when you wish you could have a do-over or, at the very least, erase a split second moment. Such a day occurred last week.

It was an ordinary Thursday morning. I arrived at my local Hy-Vee store at the break of day, grocery list in hand. I nodded to the shelf-stockers in the parking lot as they made their way to their cars after their overnight shifts. Upon entry into the store, I played Russian roulette with the shopping carts, hoping I would get the one that didn't wobble or make annoying noises. No such luck as I found myself leaning into a cart that had a bad listing-to-the-left problem. I dream of the day I get a cart that rolls along with ease. Hope springs eternal.

As my grocery list dwindled down to the last item, I wrangled my cart to the checkout counter. I was pleased to see that the clerk was Jenny, a sweet and very friendly young lady who has checked me out before, always with a smile.

We chatted while I unloaded my groceries onto the conveyor belt. I was about to place my last item on the belt when it happened. I picked up the only glass jar I had in my cart and in the blink of an eye I felt it slip out of my hand. I sucked in my breath as I prepared for the inevitable shattering sound and, indeed, that is exactly what I heard. Jenny's eyes popped out a bit as she processed what she heard. I looked at her and began a river of apologies as I explained what was on the floor.

I had dropped a jar of molasses. Yep, folks, it was goopy, gloppy, sticky molasses.

Jenny, the effervescent optimist, responded, "Well, at least molasses is thick enough to stay in one place." I nervously giggled and said, "It does smell like gingerbread cookies in this lane."

I offered to clean up the mess because I knew Jenny was a one-gal-show at that early hour. The produce department was in the back storeroom lugging bananas and apples around. The bakery department was elbow deep in dough and frosting. The manager was scurrying around doing looking-important-things. There would be no clean-up-in-aisle-nine crew for Jenny.

Sweet Jenny assured me that she would take care of the situation and then she asked me, "Would you like another jar of molasses?" I paused for a moment and said, "No, thank you. I am going to need to heal a bit before picking up another jar." She smiled and nodded in relief.

Jenny deserves clerk of the year in my book. I added molasses to my current shopping list but time will tell if I get the nerve to put another one in my cart anytime soon. For now, it is probably best to stick with cardboard and plastic. It also wouldn't hurt my feelings if the Brer Rabbit Molasses company considered a move away from glass jars. I know Jenny would approve.