i wasn't aware there would be a test

I was driving to Trader Joe's this afternoon and stopped at a light behind a car sporting a bumper sticker that read: 1% of the people have 40% of the wealth. What's your share?" Right. If every person equals one share (I'm making this easy) then all those really rich folk have 40 times more than they should. If the other 99 of us are sharing the dregs remaining, 60%, then I'm only getting $.60 on the dollar...if I were actually contributing an equal amount as that evil 1%. If each unit worked (and hour, a week, a month) is worth some portion of money, and my value is $.60, then I think I'm alright. My actual level of work is more like $.50 so I'm about 20% up on the deal. Not bad. I think that attempts toward socialist and liberal ideals shouldn't necessarily be based directly on some ratio of wealth. Is the system off-balance?, sure. Do I need to spend an hour wondering about formulas and equations? Not buying. Unfortunately, it's the constant path of 'protest' that doesn't hold any real effect.

Speaking of story problems, I've got this one:

How much longer will I stand in line at Trader Joe's because the customers in front of me think that bagging groceries is a spectator sport?

I'd like a full-length wall mirror just behind the register so Doug and Tilly can see how moronic they look while they clutch the debit card and watch the cashier bag six bags of groceries for them. Maybe they are thinking about that memorable time when Dixie at the Safeway managed to bag two carts of groceries in fifteen minutes. There was a day when SuperTodd worked the bags as a courtesy clerk at Albertson's (Omaha, circa 1984). My legendary ability to bag wasn't enough to convince grocery stores to maintain a cadre of highly trained, frozen food aware, heavy contents on the bottom of the bag, customer service gods. I'm guessing it was about 1990 when bagging ceased being a seperate skill set in the grocery...if you are older than 15 you should know all about this latest development. I should not watch you wide-eyed, with bags on the counter in front of you, imagining just how daring the ride will be when the bagging starts. Pick up a bag, put stuff in...it's not hard. Not only will you not look doltish, I might not be standing in line imagining ways to punish you. Oops.

Hey, it's Sunday.

T