Elizabeth and Brady hopped into the car and headed to the supermarket for what they thought would be an easy and uncomplicated grocery run.
They started driving, and as they neared the store they approached a roundabout complete with traffic light and speed bump.
“I understand how each individually controls the flow of traffic but I’m not sure what they accomplish all together,” Elizabeth pondered as they wondered whether to obey the light, or standard rules of a roundabout.
“Confusion! You have to go slow because you’re not really sure what’s going on, so I guess it does control the flow of traffic,” Brady answered.
They pulled into the parking lot and tried to find a space. To their dismay, the design of the parking lot allowed for only one lane of traffic around corners, not enough spaces, random pillars blocking spots, cones reserving spots for who-knows-who, and tight spaces requiring k-turns to get in or out. With the car finally parked, Brady and Elizabeth headed inside, carrying their empty water jug to return for a full one. (Tap water is not potable.)
“I have to leave my purse in a locker, so you go return our water bottle and I’ll meet you by the bread,” Elizabeth told Brady as she headed to the lockers where you have to store any bag you brought in so as not to shoplift.
Brady went to the station to exchange his empty water jug for a ticket to get a new one. “This bottle is too damaged, we won’t take it back,” the employee told Brady.
“I just bought it here a few days ago, it looks exactly the same!” Brady said, starting to get frustrated.
“I’m sorry, call the company and maybe they can exchange a new one for you,” the worker replied. So Brady looked at the jug; three different numbers to call. He called one, not a real number. He called the second one: disconnected. He called the third one: does not exist.
“Great,” Brady said as he stored the jug in the locker with Elizabeth’s purse and walked into the store.
