I love to go to the grocery store and wander the aisles looking for what ever I might be able to cram in my pantry and forget about. I also love to visit with the checkers when I go through the check out lane. King Soopers is always so clean and I can find what I need fairly easily. So Saturday afternoon I wandered into the one on 29th Street. I knew they had turkey's on sale and I need one for an upcoming catering job in December.
Of course I had to park far from the door because they were busy. And they are busy because they are a top notch destination store. Little did I know my world perception was about to change!
It did not take long to find what I needed. The turkey was on sale. No, they do not carry bean sprouts any more. No, they do not carry the seasoning stuff for egg rolls. And the Dole salad in a bag with the 5 veggies is not there. So with my turkey and napa cabbage I headed for the checkout. There I met my demise!
The few checkers had lines 4 blocks long! Ah, but here I found "self check machines" that were waiting for me! I am sorry but those thing intimidate the hell right out of me, but since it was apparent that this was my lot in life I approached one. The first item I scanned was the turkey. "place item in the bagging area" was announced by this machine. Since the damn thing weighed 18 pounds I did not want to wrestle it around very long, so I placed it in my cart and reached for my next item, which was a napa cabbage. No! It repeated the order to "place item in bagging area." I tried again. "place item in bagging area." By this time the woman inside the scanner was losing patience with me. I finally put the damn turkey "in the bagging area" which seemed to please her no end!
Back to the cabbage. Of course it did not have a bar code. After waving it before the scanning area and having no luck, the man behind me stepped up to help. He called up a screen which had more choices. He chose produce, which called up another screen. Not finding the Napa cabbage he poked something else. By this time I had given up totally and he continued to check my items, while I stood there mumbling about not wanting to be a checker at my age and I was actually retired.
When it called up the screen where payment was needed, he did step away and let me pay. Good man. He offered to "help me to my car with my purchases." His name was George. A very nice man. However, my puritan upbringing dictates that I not pick up men in the grocery store, so I demurred. Of course the parking lot of a grocery store is a damn good place to get mugged and he may have been a safer bet than the strangers out there. He did smile at me and tell me that he shops there every Saturday afternoon about this same time. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. They will probably have something on sale next week that I cannot live with out. We will see.
Back to the subject of this blog. I never was a checker in a grocery store, nor did I ever aspire to be one. Yesterday I took Jerome to Walmart to buy his groceries. Once more we were confronted with many banks of self check outs. He refuses to use them. I got in line just in time for the checker to open the aisle right beside me! Dodged that bullet. I was out on the street in 5 minutes or less. Jerome had wandered off to find someone to check him out and arrived shortly after me. The God's must have been smiling on us.
I shall resist the self check as long as I can. My choice is to shop at Albertson's or Lagrees' where they do not have self check. The checkers at Lagrees's know me by name. They know my grandson. I have left my purse in their parking lot 2 times and found it in their office when I did. They are up the road just one mile, so that is good. Maybe they are a little higher than in town, but like Kenny always said, "Better support them or we will be driving into town for a loaf of bread." So I do.
Course I may make a trip into King Soopers next Saturday just for kicks and to see if George is hanging around the self check looking for someone to help. My puritan upbringing be damned!
Wish me luck on that!
Of course I had to park far from the door because they were busy. And they are busy because they are a top notch destination store. Little did I know my world perception was about to change!
It did not take long to find what I needed. The turkey was on sale. No, they do not carry bean sprouts any more. No, they do not carry the seasoning stuff for egg rolls. And the Dole salad in a bag with the 5 veggies is not there. So with my turkey and napa cabbage I headed for the checkout. There I met my demise!
The few checkers had lines 4 blocks long! Ah, but here I found "self check machines" that were waiting for me! I am sorry but those thing intimidate the hell right out of me, but since it was apparent that this was my lot in life I approached one. The first item I scanned was the turkey. "place item in the bagging area" was announced by this machine. Since the damn thing weighed 18 pounds I did not want to wrestle it around very long, so I placed it in my cart and reached for my next item, which was a napa cabbage. No! It repeated the order to "place item in bagging area." I tried again. "place item in bagging area." By this time the woman inside the scanner was losing patience with me. I finally put the damn turkey "in the bagging area" which seemed to please her no end!
Back to the cabbage. Of course it did not have a bar code. After waving it before the scanning area and having no luck, the man behind me stepped up to help. He called up a screen which had more choices. He chose produce, which called up another screen. Not finding the Napa cabbage he poked something else. By this time I had given up totally and he continued to check my items, while I stood there mumbling about not wanting to be a checker at my age and I was actually retired.
When it called up the screen where payment was needed, he did step away and let me pay. Good man. He offered to "help me to my car with my purchases." His name was George. A very nice man. However, my puritan upbringing dictates that I not pick up men in the grocery store, so I demurred. Of course the parking lot of a grocery store is a damn good place to get mugged and he may have been a safer bet than the strangers out there. He did smile at me and tell me that he shops there every Saturday afternoon about this same time. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. They will probably have something on sale next week that I cannot live with out. We will see.
Back to the subject of this blog. I never was a checker in a grocery store, nor did I ever aspire to be one. Yesterday I took Jerome to Walmart to buy his groceries. Once more we were confronted with many banks of self check outs. He refuses to use them. I got in line just in time for the checker to open the aisle right beside me! Dodged that bullet. I was out on the street in 5 minutes or less. Jerome had wandered off to find someone to check him out and arrived shortly after me. The God's must have been smiling on us.
I shall resist the self check as long as I can. My choice is to shop at Albertson's or Lagrees' where they do not have self check. The checkers at Lagrees's know me by name. They know my grandson. I have left my purse in their parking lot 2 times and found it in their office when I did. They are up the road just one mile, so that is good. Maybe they are a little higher than in town, but like Kenny always said, "Better support them or we will be driving into town for a loaf of bread." So I do.
Course I may make a trip into King Soopers next Saturday just for kicks and to see if George is hanging around the self check looking for someone to help. My puritan upbringing be damned!
Wish me luck on that!
