Lisa Carnley is managing editor of the Lampasas Dispatch Record. While math is not my forte, I can look at a lot of everyday situations and see that they just don’t add up.

You look at the numbers, and let me know if I am way off-base here.

Our Lampasas Post Office, built several years ago to accommodate the increased population (so they said), has three service counters. Usually only one is open. What happens to the other two? Are they used for storage?

Guess that’s like the dining room table in my house. I don’t ever eat on it, but it’s there to throw my purse and coat on when I walk in the door. Even though I don’t use it for its intended purpose (like the post office counters), it looks nice, and every house should have a dining room table, right?

But every post office should have more than one stall open for customers -- especially during the holidays.

How about that 10-items-andunder line at the grocery store? Although math is not my strongest suit, I can add up to 10. And while I don’t count a dozen eggs as over the 10-item rule, I do think when it takes more than two minutes to unload your cart, you belong in another line.

Do people think that rule applies to everyone but themselves? When I run into the store for one or two items, I don’t want to wait in line behind the person with a half-full basket who didn’t want to wait in line behind someone else with a half-full cart.

But count, people. Ten items is 10 (OK, sometimes 11 or even stretching it to 12), but it doesn’t mean multiples of 10. Be courteous.

What about that person at the airline counter with a suitcase that is about five pounds over the 50- pound limit?

If you are like me, you always seem to be stuck behind that one person who has to divest his suitcase of those items that put it over the weight limit.

Nothing like being asked to hold someone’s cosmetics case while they dig through a splayed-open suitcase in an attempt to lighten the load. I don’t know about you, but seeing someone else’s underwear and other unmentionables at 7 a.m. is not my idea of a good start to the day.

When the sign reads “50 pounds,” that’s what it means. Not 52, not 53. It means 50. Just suck it up, pay the extra $25, wrap up your undies, and move on. End of story.

And what about those $6 packs of cigarettes. As a former pack-aday smoker, I know I quit just in time -- right before Congress added another tax that pushed the cost of cigarettes right out of most people’s reach. That’s OK. Whatever it takes to quit.

If I were still smoking, I would have to take another part-time job just to pay for the cigarettes. But $6 for something that won’t even last a day? That would be like going through a bottle of detergent or a container of aspirin every day. Who does that?

I guess I’ve said about enough. It’s time to go to the grocery store. I think I will take a pad and pen with me to scribble notes about my next column while I wait in line.

After all, just because the stores have a half-dozen checkout stands doesn’t mean more than one will be open when I get there. They never are.

Let’s see ... 15 customers in line. One checkout open. It’s 5:30 p.m. How long will I be in line?

You do the math.