My first time.

OK, and I thought my first kiss was exciting.

I've started using coupons at the grocery store. Tonight, at HT, my bill was something like 40 dollars. I swiped my debit card, entered my pin, no cash back, let's get out of here and on to the next store. But not yet! The grumpy cashier yells at the woman behind the customer service desk.

"I need'n overrawd. I'm s'posed t'be leavin' right now. I'm s'posed to be gawn home. I NEED an overrawd."

The woman behind the customer service desk is on the phone. Clearly not a business call. She chomps on her gum and yells back.

"Call David."

The grumpy cashier doesn't have a microphone at her station. She lets out a HUGE sigh and tromps on down to the last of the cashier lanes

"Wherse David? I need'n overrawd."

I give the gum-chewing customer service lady a sheepish grin and cross my fingers that this whole override business is not due to some problem with my debit card. The gum-chewing customer service lady did not return my grin. I knew it, I thought. The card isn't going through. Why isn't it going through? Maybe they think it's stolen. I could probably have a million dollars in my account and still get a little nervous whenever there is a hesitation at the checkout (a carryover reaction from my college days, I'm sure.)

Anyway, David gets paged over the intercom system, but in the meantime the gum-chewing customer service lady comes out from behind the counter and says, "Tell David to cancel that." The grumpy cashier tromps back to my register and watches as the gum-chewing customer service lady sticks her key in the register and walks away.

The receipt finished printing. The grumpy cashier rips it off and grabs a pen to circle my savings. She does not make eye contact with me.

"You saved 104.63 cents."

I gasped.

"That's whah I needed an overrawd."

And so friends, I give you the account of my first $100+ savings experience. It's like- I thought I knew what happiness was the day I married Arnie. Then, I thought I knew what happiness was when Ella was born. Today, I KNOW what happiness is. Happiness is making that grumpy cashier hawl her mean old self down to the end of the store so that I can get my 104 dollar savings approved.