I really hate money.

I worked on checkout the last couple days. They were short and I wanted to extra hours, so I volunteered to cover a shift or two. Working the floor seems to be much more plentiful in "OH MY GOD" moments, but Checkout had its perks too.

For example, yesterday, a man came through my line and purchased condoms, Maxim, and various food items. And shortly after that, I sold KY Intense to an older couple, all while making innocent small talk.

I also had my first experience with someone getting angry at me for offering him a rewards card. The 'mart just started this program, actually a couple of months ago, much like a County Market Max card, or like the Shopko rewards program. We scan the card when they come through, and they earn 1% back for everything they purchase, and can also win instant prizes. Now, I realize that 1% is actually pretty pitiful--you have to spend $1000 to earn $10. But, it's still not hurting you to sign up, unless you don't want to give out your personal information, which is completely understandable.

Now, when working checkout, we are required to ask everyone if they have a rewards card, and if not, ask them to sign up for the program (and we are required to get 10% of the people that come through our lane signed up). Most people offer a polite, yet disinterested "no," or ask more about the program and then eventually sign up. But not this guy. I asked if they had a card, his wife said no, and that she hadn't even heard of the program. So I explained the basics to her. She turned to her husband and asked if he wanted to sign up, and he yelled, "WHAT?" So I repeated the benefits of the program to him. Then he looked at me, honestly angry and said, "One percent back? That's not worth a damn. My god damn time is worth more than that."

I said they were in no obligation to sign up, and if they changed their minds, they could always enroll at a later date. He proceeded to mutter under his breath, but still loud enough for me to hear, about how stupid it was, and not worth it, and ridiculous and just kept repeating, "My time is worth more than that."

I'm not quite sure what he meant by that, either. Unless he was trying to say that it wasn't worth his time to sign up for such pitiful savings, but it seriously takes less than a minute because I just type it all into the computer and skip the paper application.

But whatever. Other people get mad at me because they misread signs and are getting charged more than they want to be, and he gets mad because the store won't give him back more free money than he thinks his time is worth.

I hate money. I hate not having it, I hate fighting with people over it. I hate the stress it causes. We should just switch back to a barter system. I have a lot of useless crap I could exchange for other useless crap.