In what’s being called “a sign that you’re going to be stuck for a while, so you’d better sit down, take a nap, and tell your partner you’ll be back tomorrow,” a French-speaking couple queuing in front of you at a service station have engaged the cashier in a line of questioning about cigarette prices.
“And how much is a pack of Marlboro Lights?” they asked the cashier in French. “And for a carton? Okay, and what about a pack of twenty-five? And do those come in cartons?”
“And what about the price of a pack of Winston Blues?” the couple continued. “Winston Reds? And now, a tub of Winston Blond rolling tobacco? And Gauloises Brun tobacco? Do you have larger tubs?”
“And one more time: what was the price of a pack of Marlboro Lights?” they added. “Sorry to ask again, but how much does a carton cost? That is for a pack of twenty cigarettes, yes?”
Despite the growing queue of impatient customers behind them, the couple continued soliciting information about every smoking tobacco brand, type, and container size.
After they finished their exhaustive inquiry, they faced each other and, in some kind of dialect, launched into a heated discussion in which they weighed the pros and cons of the offers.
It was only three hours later, with the queue stretching nearly a kilometer down the street, that they placed their order: 25 cartons of various brands, a mix of 394 individual packs of Winstons, Camels, and Gauloises, and 20 tubs of rolling tobacco.
According to witnesses, the couple then headed to an adjacent service station to repeat the process.
