All I wanted to do was pay for a compact disc - with cash - and get out of the store.
Alas, the multi-tasking cashier had other plans for me. "How about a magazine subscription with that CD?"
First, the Best Buy cashier asked me for my phone number, which I declined to provide.
All I wanted was the CD.
Then, she spread out a handful of advertising brochures depicting various entertainment magazines and offered me a free trial subscription. I declined.
All I wanted was the CD.
Then she informed me, with the breathtaking speed of an auctioneer, that my receipt included instructions for participating in an on-line customer-satisfaction survey that would automatically enter my name in a drawing to win $5,000.
All I wanted was the CD.
I realize, of course, that the cashier was not to blame for this blizzard of words.
"Boy," I said to her, "you must get tired of having to say all that stuff."
Conserving her energy, she gave me a wordless nod.
