_____ as a goat

sunday is grocery day, the day we buy groceries. after the groceries have been bought, the day becomes ice day, the day we buy the ice. the ice we buy is at the convenience store, convenient because it is on the path back to home. this ice we buy is good ice and it makes me happy.

what does not make me happy is being judged by the person behind the counter at the convenience store.

not because i believe that person inferior to me, in any possible way. they are filling a position at that moment that i need the position filled. to exchange legal tender for goods and/or services. not to be judged.

ice day should have been uneventful, but today it was not to be so.

entering the store i arrive at the case where the ice is to be retrieved and i retrieve the bag that i will buy. i move to the counter and place the bag of ice onto the counter and reach for my wallet, in the pocket of my jeans. the store is empty, aside from myself and the store's clerk who would appear to be a reasonably pleasant fellow.

knowing the post tax purchase price, having bought ice from here on previous ice days, i retrieve two one dollar bills from my wallet and after the clerk states my total i extend the cash toward his hand. he acknowledges my remitted total and states my change as being sixty cents.

he then asks me: "would you like to donate your sixty cents to the Children's Miracle Network?" motioning to a plastic cup with a hot-air balloon donation certificate pasted onto its side.

"no thanks," i say, "not today," and reach for the bag of ice while putting my sixty cents into my pocket.

and then the clerk replies "have a good day with your sixty cents."