unintended consequences.

saturday i was bagging my own groceries at the store, and finally an employee walked over to help. she promptly picked up the bag with the pie in it that i had carefully laid on its side to keep the pie flat and turned it vertical in the cart. i was like, "um, there's a pie in there, it's supposed to be on its side."

she said, "oh, you clearly know what you're doing," and walked away.

i was thinking to myself, yeah, and i can do this better than 90% of the people here because it was almost my first job. i did work in a grocery store in high school, starting as a bagger an chekcker like everyone, and eventually ending up in the bakery.

it wasn't my first job, though. that dubious honour goes to a job my mom got me when i was 14, working at a dry cleaner's for $5/hour cash under the table.

see, mom wanted me to go to work early. i guess to instill some kind of work ethic in me and help me learn the value of a dollar and a day's work.

i have spent most of my adult life trying to avoid working and figuring out how to get paid to go to school for the rest of my life.