Really, more tales from behind the till

Of course, the LO has nothing to do with the post, I just like a post with a picture!

On Tuesday, Laura and Kelly called in. I met them both through crafts and their connections to the shop - they are core members of Ludgershall Crop, too. I cannot begin to describe them - vivacious, opinionated, chatty and totally and utterly up for anything. They leave me enriched with laughter and very, very much the wiser. They watch things on tv that I've never heard of, they erm 'educate' me in the art of life; there are no moments spent with them that aren't utterly entertaining. Both of them are devoted wives and mothers and they are both married to serving Soldiers. They have burdens to bear. But you wouldn't know it.

So, in they breeze, make themselves at home and do some double-act type shopping. I should add at this point that two other gals are there and really, we laughed till we cried but also - we had our mouths agape at some parts of the conversation. But get this - Kelly taught me something really important. And that is - when you get to the till, stop yakking and start concentrating. REALLY. She paid for her shopping with a credit card and I did the deed, turning it to her for PIN number entry as we chatted. Naturally, she entered her PIN number. After all, I'd handed her the machine for just that purpose, remember. Yeah, but I'd missed an important part of the button pressing and Kelly's pin number became part of the debit amount.

Oh yes, I tried to charge her £176,000 and some change (which I can't tell you because it was her PIN number!)

And as if that wasn't enough, it wasn't me that noticed! I did void the transaction and correct it and she was very, very gracious. We laughed about her husband's reaction. Correctly, I hope!

So there's a real lesson - don't distract me at the till, it's unlikely to be to your advantage. And another good reason - there isn't really room in front of the till for fainting.