The Grocery Event

I don't usually blog twice in one day, but I wanted to jot down a little tidbit about my trip to the grocery store.

Each trip to the grocery store is an event. These days, I go once a week. I spend about $150 to $250 each visit, depending on whether it's a week that we're low on the high budget items like laundry detergent, shampoos, diapers, etc.

EVERY time I go to the grocery store, I always get some kind of comment, like, "Wow! How long is this all going to last," or "Someone sure is hungry!" or something like that.

This week, I came up to the check-out with a full grocery cart. The guy who bags at the end gaped at me with a dropped jaw, "That's ALL yours?"

A checker happened to be walking by and said, "Oh, that's NOTHING! She usually gets more than that."
"That's right," I said, "I'm coming to leave this cart here and grab a second cart."

The bagger was clearly stunned, and I was wondering if there were not other people in all the world that got enough groceries to fill one cart, or was I the only one?

When I came back with my second cart some 30 minutes later, the checker at the line that I was pointing my second cart mimed, "Go to THAT line. Please, go to THAT line," and pointed desperately to the other open lane.

I mouthed back, "You're MEAN!"

He just grinned.

When I returned to retrieve my second cart, the mean checker eagerly came to help me push the second cart into the other line.

I then said, "Why, THANK YOU, so much. You are so kind!"

He laughed at that one.

Have I mentioned how old I feel when I go to the grocery store? Each visit, I feel older and older, particularly when I go on a Friday night when the grocery store employs all of their low-seniority employees. The high school students and fresh-out-of-high-school kids who need to work whenever they can get the hours. They were out in force tonight and all wondering why a woman would buy so many pickin' groceries!

The bagger in the second line asked me, "Will all of this last you for a month?!"

"A week."

"No way!"

"Yep. I just make a big pile and I get my big shovel and just shovel it in," and I then demonstrated my technique with pantomime.

"You must have pigs at home," he commented. This comment, when I relayed it to the kids later on, insulted them to no end.

However, I answered, "Feels like it sometimes."

Then, when all of the items were at last scanned, we all stood around the register monitor and watched agog as the grocery card was scanned and all of the Kroger discounts were ticked off of the grand total. It was a bigger total than usual.

"Thank you, ma'am," says the 19 year old checker, "You've saved $69.23 by using your Kroger card. Thank you for shopping at Kroger."

My groceries didn't fit into the two original carts. Apparently, once they were bagged, they expanded and had to be put in three carts. I got the usual help hauling my loot to my van.

And thus ended yet another grocery visit. Thank goodness!