12. Ten Packages of Salted Butter

“You’re only allowed to buy four,” said the cashier.
She exploded. “Why?”

“Because there’s a limit of four per customer.”
“But I didn’t read that anywhere…”
“I want to speak with your supervisor!”

The woman in front of me wanted to buy ten packages of salted butter.
And I had a front-row seat for the show.

The supervisor arrived.
Indeed, the lady was not allowed to buy more than four packages.

“So you’re telling me that if I go out of the store and come back again, then I can buy four more?”
“That is correct,” said the supervisor.
“Well, I’m doing that!”
She stormed out of the store.

The lady could have bought a hundred packages of salted butter.
All she needed was time.
Time to go out and come back.
Time to stand in line once again.

Should the supervisor have simply let her buy the butter?
She was going to buy the butter no matter what.

This reminds me of Heraclitus.
He said that you can’t enter the same river twice.

That’s true in my store.
Walk back in.
No one can tell who you were before.