And the "Cutest Kid in the World" Award Goes To...

There was this completely adorable kid in the store tonight. I was tidying a section and he came over to look at the stuff I was moving around. He stood quietly, watching me work. I figured he was interested in what I was doing but too polite to interrupt, so I offered to show him how the product worked. He watched me attentively, but didn't make any move to try it himself, so I said, "Do you want to try it?" He took it and tried it out, then asked me how much it was. I showed him the price tag.

Later I heard him ask the man he was with (presumably his father), how much a few other products cost. A little while later I overheard the dad explaining that he needed to take into account sales tax. Next I heard the dad say something like "Well, go ask her."

I was standing at the register and the boy came up. It took him a while to ask me his question (there were lots of stops and starts), but he finally asked, "If I bought these three things, how much would I have left over?"

Resisting the urge to chuckle, I told him that, since I didn't know how much he had, I couldn't tell him how much he'd have left, but I could tell him how much it would all cost. I rang up the items and told him his total was $13.87. He handed me another item and asked how it would be if he had it, too. The new total was $16.35. At this point his dad reminded him that he only had $14. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, so I explained that he couldn't get all four items with just $14. He decided he wanted the original three items. He pointed to something else on the counter and asked if he could get that with what was left over. I gently tried to explain to him that he only had 13¢, and there wasn't anything he could get for that. I asked him if he was ready to be rung up. He said yes, but didn't do anything. His dad prompted him to hand me the things he wanted to buy. I rang up the items and told him his total. He looked over at his dad and asked for his $14. His dad said, "You have the $14." The boy said, "Oh!" and dug out his cash. He looked it over carefully before handing it to me. I told him he would get 13¢ change. Here's where the boy won the "Cutest Kid" award.

He looked up at me with a worried, concerned expression, and asked me, "Do you have that much?"

I looked over at his dad as we both tried not to laugh, then looked back at the boy and said (in all seriousness), "Yes, I do."

I gave him his change and he started to walk away. His dad reminded him to wait for me to give him his bag. The boy turned around and I handed his bag to him.

He was just so cute! And so polite! Hmm....maybe there's a connection there....