Saint John — Word spread like wildfire at the Somerset Atlantic Superstore on Wednesday when a local woman was spotted buying just one item — a large jug of cranberry juice.
The woman in question, 46-year-old Jenna Talia, had the juice bottle on the top shelf of a small cart as she shuffled somewhat awkwardly through the self-checkout lanes.
Women with faces twisted tightly into expressions of empathy and pain looked knowingly at Talia as she approached her self-serve checkout. One woman absentmindedly muttered, “Oh honey,” before resuming her own scanning.
Nineteen-year-old self-serve attendant Robbie Mercer tried to chat up Talia in a ham-fisted attempt to cheer her up.
“That woman looked absolutely miserable about something,” said Mercer. “I was getting this vibe from everyone like she needed special attention I think, so I walked right over to try to help.
“I said something like, ‘That’s a lot of juice! You must like cocktails!’ and she just looked at me with this look of agony on her face. So I joked, ‘You’re going to be in the bathroom all night if you drink all that!’ and I laughed, but all of the scanning stopped and everyone looked up at me. Cheryl at the next register hissed, ‘Robbie! Shut up!’
“I asked Cheryl later what I did, and she just said, ‘Never mind!'”
As Talia wordlessly trudged out of the store with her juice jug, a old lady touched her arm saying, “Now you take care dear” as the heads behind her nodded sympathetically.