Artichokes have WHAT?!

CLAWS. They have claws. I found this out as a customer and his wife had put some into a bag for me to check. I pick the things up, not knowing what they were, and soon discovered that something had just cut my flesh!!! The wife had forgotten an item, so she went back to get it. I put the horrible things down and just stared at them. I was angry and confused at this point. I decided to be straightforward with the guy. I told him that I didn't know what they were, could he tell me? He just kind of looked at me, then at the veggies. He sort of stalled for a bit and then said that he couldn't remember what they were called!! We both just stood there and stared at the strange green sharp things. I started looking at the list of produce that I have at the register and calling out names that were unfamiliar to me. Finally, he said that he thought it started with an A. So I went and said Artichoke and won the prize!! We had figured it out, but it cost me my integrity and some blood. It was horrible.

In other news, A very religious woman came through my line today. Here's how it went:
Me: Hey, how are you doing today?
Her: Oh, I'm just blessed blessed blessed!
Me: Oh really? What makes you so blessed?
Her: Well, I'm in the land of the living!!
Me: The land of the living, huh? So where would you go if you weren't in the land of the living?
Her: I think Heaven.
Me: You "ThinK" HeaveN?
Her: I still got work to do! My work ain't done here.
*enter customer from adjacent line*
C: That's right! Our work isn't done here yet!!
Her: Hey yeah! That's right. We still got stuff to do!
Me: Okay, have a nice day.
Her: Okay, you have a blessed day!!

I was asking her questions to see if she'd mention Christ at all, but she didn't. It was so strange and fake. It bothers me at times to be around people like that. Whenever people say they are blessed, I like to ask them why. One lady said to me, "because I know Jesus as my personal saviour...etc." we had a nice discussion and it was very encouraging. Other people don't say anything about it. Very interesting.

Today I found out that NGC is going to let me go to my own church!! I'm SO excited about looking for churches and seeing what's out there. As someone who has been through numerous church splits and followed her parents wherever they lead her, this is a huge step for me. So in all reality, it's getting harder for me to stay here when I know it's going to be so different and new/exciting in the fall!!!

Moral of the day: Beware of the Artichokes.