The Weight of the Jar
(A refill shop on Gladstone Road. Wayne puts three empty jars on the counter.)
Wayne: Morning. Rice, oats, and the coffee, please.
Althea: Three jars? Lovely. Let me weigh them first.
Wayne: Weigh them? They’re empty.
Althea: That’s why. Glass is heavy. I take that weight off at the till, so you only pay for what’s inside.
Wayne: You… take it off.
Althea: Four hundred and twelve grams, that one. Yes, off.
Althea: How much rice do you want?
Wayne: Half a kilo.
(Wayne fills the jar from the big tube on the wall.)
Althea: And how many bottles are you filling today?
Wayne: One. A litre of the oil.
Althea: Ten pounds forty altogether.
Wayne: Can I ask you something? I came in three weeks ago. There was a young lad on the till.
Althea: There was.
Wayne: He didn’t weigh my jars.
Althea: Oh no.
Wayne: And I bought two kilos of flour that day. In a very big jar.
Althea: I’m so sorry. Let me take something off today—
Wayne: No, no. Don’t. I’ve been telling everybody the flour here is expensive, and all that time I was paying for my own jar. I carried it in myself!