Bargain Hunting

Their pale wrinkled faces in a
rictus of righteous indignation
the elderly couple was caught in
a frenzy of blame and 'gotcha', the
harried cashier placatory, apologetic
on behalf of herself, the store that
employed her, her extended family
her city and the obvious fallibility
of commercial transactions failing
to meet the exacting standards
of bargain hunters like the two
before her, trembling with the fury 
of shoppers whose dissatisfaction
was clearly monumental. Not that
the elderly pair was representative
of a poverty-stricken underclass;
their entitlement was that of
comfortably well-off pensioners.
They had been on their regular
round of supermarkets, advertisements
and coupons in hand, an item here,
another there, several from another
source. In this supermarket their
basket held four items, and two
were of the two-for variety. Clerks
were dispatched by the cashier to
the shelves and oh dear, there was
a misunderstanding in the shoppers'
interpretation, not sale items at all.
Their faces turned apoplectic in a
staring competition, when the head
cashier hurried over to assure them
of a concession, the items on sale
for them alone after all, as the
triumphantly gloating pair paid by
debit card and shoppers behind
patiently waiting, rolled their eyes.