I was waiting at the express cashier of a supermarket. There is a sign there, Up to ten items. Ahead of me in line were two young brothers, one just into his teens, the other, not yet. Behind them in line, was a man old enough to be their grandfather. This man looked into their cart and said,

“You know, you have twelve items.”

As if for two items, he expected them to wait behind people with overflowing shopping carts. Well, the older of the two boys outsmarted the man. He gave his younger brother some cash, moved things around in the cart, and said,

“You take six items, and I’ll take six items.”

The young-lady cashier was trying hard not to laugh out loud, and other people on line, like myself, smiled at the situation.

Instead of just letting them take two items more than the max listed on the sign, he had to wait longer for the cashier to ring up two separate sums, and to count out change twice over.