Geez Louise get me outta here!

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Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house, there were a bunch of grocery items that weren’t on-site. (I’m not much of a rhymer!)

That means a trip to the grocery store. We have a membership big box store just a few minutes away. I don’t do a lot of shopping there because what would I do with 15 pounds of potatoes or 60 rolls of toilet paper? Everything comes in mega packs, but their meat is wonderful and so is their prepared foods and desserts. Fruits and veggies are great too if you need a lot.

I went on a Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. They open at 10 so how bad could it be? Bad, very bad! There were three parking spaces left (out of 200) and I swear they were in the next county. I was intent to not whine, do my business and get out of Dodge.

To get a cart or not? That is the question. Their carts are huge and unwieldy. I’m picking up three items. Technically I don’t need a cart but I worried about being stuck in a check out line for a long time. Even ten pounds gets heavy after a while especially when it’s ice cold.

So I’m pushing a cart as big as a train car among people who have no sense of direction or manners. They chat in the aisles completely blocking it. They do a “U-y” where there isn’t any room and bang into me. That’s “me” the person and not “me” the cart. Ouch!

First up item I couldn’t find but I found a good alternative. I put it in my cart. I went to the next item artfully dodging crazies. There were none. This was the real item I came for. Boogers.

I looked over to the checkout line and it was as long as a football field. There were no concession stands to help out. No one yelling “get your hot dogs and beer!”

I put item #1 back, left the cart sitting in the aisle, and walked back to my car in the next county. It’s a Tuesday morning. People should be working. What’s up with that.

Just a little miffed (okay a lot miffed), I went to the next store. It was a little better but busy. I parked closer but not what you would call close. I was able to get my items. Checkout was a ten-minute wait at the self-check. A customer in front of me had a full cart. It came to $135. That needs staff approval. Self-check is for small orders but obviously this customer is devoid of common sense or thought she would be faster than the cashier. She wasn’t. She had trouble finding codes and there wasn’t enough room on the landing so it didn’t register the item. Argh.

Aside from a few necessary eyerolls, I was good. No snide remarks under my breath. No grunts. Nothing out loud. (I want to stay on the nice list.) Eventually it was my turn and I got out.

People are buying and spending. The whole morning was traumatizing. It was people-y. I am cocooning now and hoping to recover by Christmas. Whatever I don’t have, I will do without.

71 thoughts on “Geez Louise get me outta here!”

  2. I disliked crowds around the holidays before Covid and dislike them more now. In mid-November I shopped for enough perishables to last thru mid-January to avoid crowds, then had the downed line, power outage, so lost them all. I bought new of everything I lost, then had a few bad days and ate all my snacks and cookies. At least I didn’t drink any eggnog until today and my friend Ann Marie brought some Christmas baking so I can be a little festive.

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      • Well I didn’t want to have to buy perishables until January. My new Priority Health includes free delivery from Kroger, so I am going to take advantage of that thru the Winter. It starts on the 1st. I was angry about the perishables because of the generator. If I’ve not mentioned it before, I got a whole-house generator installed on August 18th. I have had nothing but problems with it. I’ve had seven or eight tech visits trying to find why it shuts itself off or goes offline. Wednesday the tech troubleshooted with Generac and found a loose connection. The night of the downed fire and resulting fire 25 feet from my house, I thought the generator malfunctioned when the power line was arcing on the fence. The generator fired up, but I was outside until 2:00 a.m. when the fireman said it was safe to come back inside. In the meantime, my pole sensor light went out and I realized the generator had another fail. They were predicting so many power outages from th winds here that our energy provider cancelled all vacation time for linemen – we have 700 linemen. We only had 4,000 outages, but I worried with the brutal temps and told them they needed to find a solution. I’m pretty frustrated about the generator – the tech says he is 99.9% sure it works perfectly now. It was the .1% that worried me going into this weekend. I lost 1/4 of my garden, bushes near the fenceline and they hacked up my tree … in retrospect, the perishables were a small thing as I was not injured and the house had no damage. I had a lot of smoke in the house though – had to wear a mask for two days in the house.

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          • It’s been a bad experience so far and I don’t think my HVAC place believes it is a lemon, just shoddy workmanship. I don’t like the odds of manufacturer’s defects – where is Quality Control? I would like to see it work and stay on and was glad it didn’t have to pass muster during this brutal weather. We had not had a power outage in awhile either until that downed wire. My reasoning for getting the whole house generator is the weather is getting so erratic. I’ve had a lot of weather-related damage this year from high winds. Part of my awning was torn off the wall. My pole light address sign was ripped out of the threads (hopefully the threads aren’t stripped) from the high winds … I have no other address numbers, so I hung it back onto the pole with pipe cleaners. I had to get new deadbolt locks for two doors within one week as they both quit working and a hairline crack morphed into a huge ceiling crack and now it’s running down the wall. Locksmith and handyman say this is due to weather swings.

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  3. It was totally nuts out there tues. Partly because THE GIANT STORM was arriving Wed. Geesch. Had a list and dodged and dove like crazy getting all but 1 thing. (We shall not talk about check out lines)
    But really odd yesterday had to run back to Big Box – and while not empty, it was calm and quiet. We’ve gotten used to putting items back because they are just too expensive now, but we are having steak and grilling out for Christmas. Just want to do easy this holiday (and the dog is all 4 paws up for the choice of meal)
    Have a great Christmas!

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    • We also are having steak for Christmas. It’s a nice treat although I’m making it in my sous vide with a finish in a hot pan. Too cold for grilling here. Tonight is a small lobster tail. Jake (RIP) would have given us a hand with the steak but the current kitties don’t eat people food.

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  4. “… and walked back to my car in the next county.” 😆 One of those stores finally opened in October not too far from where we live. We have yet to go and sign up, and I guess that’s obviously something that can wait for the new year. I swear those self-checkouts just confuse more people than are helpful. Glad you survived. – Marty

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  5. Oh, this! I hate all grocery carts. I’ve been known to lug a full hand basket in one hand and a 25 pound carton of cat litter in the other rather than push one of those carts around. Employees keep offering me carts and I keep telling them I like to get in my steps and my weightlifting. But really, the whole goal is to get my stuff and get out ASAP.

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    • You can’t with those carts. Most of them have a mind of their own and don’t go in the direction you push. Then you have to maneuver between unruly shoppers. Not a fan. Our regular grocery store has the little ones too and I always go for those.

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    • I hate those carts. Our upscale grocery used to have them but they did away with them. The aisles weren’t big enough. They also used to have a supervised playroom but they did away with that too. There were always kids in it. I suspect moms dropped them off there then did grocery shopping and had a nice lunch before picking them up.

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  8. I made my last trip into town yesterday and it was a zoo. I had to go to the grocery store to get a turkey breast, but luckily I had called that morning and the butcher told me they were very busy and he didn’t normally do that but they would cut and save one for me but not to come before 3 hours. and then he hung up There were none on the shelf, there hadn’t been for weeks. Why wouldn’t they have fresh turkeys before Xmas???? But I had 3 hours worth of other errands to do (all with full parking lots) so I did not complain but was happy it was ready and I could go home and hibernate. I don’t usually do a last minute/week run as I so hate crowds, and now I remember why.

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    • I had originally planned on doing this run the week before but there was other stuff going on. I won’t make that mistake again! I try to buy cryovac’d meats so I can get early and hold. That at least gives me a few extra days early shopping.

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  11. Ahh yes, one of those people-y days. So far, so good over here, because I got things done last week. But, I’m sure I’m going to remember something I forgot for Christmas and have to run out at the last minute. Oh, and we have a major snowstorm due to arrive tomorrow to last through Friday, so no running out anyway.
    I’m sure the cats will let you recover with them. They understand completely. 😉🐈
    Merry Christmas, Kate. 🎄

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  13. Hi, Kate -Your opening line, and great visual imagery instantlly played out this verision of ANBC in my head.

    ‘Twas the week before Christmas
    And all through the house,
    Groceries were very few…
    Not enough for a louse!

    So off to Big Box store we drove with much care,
    In hopes that wonderful desserts would be waiting there.

    The parking lot was crowded requiring all to take meds.
    While indoors cart rages loomed close ahead.

    Sadly, that’s as far as I got.

    Hope you have recovered from the trauma.
    Wishing you, your hubby and all four cats a very happy holiday!

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  17. I did a curbside order (minimum $35) in order to get molasses that I forgot that I needed for cookies that I haven’t gotten to yet. I decided to get anything else I needed so I don’t have to go back until after the New Year. Perhaps I will have won the lottery or died by then. And that’s curbside. Arguably less stressful than going to the store. At least if you go in the store you find out that they are missing the one thing you actually need when you can still walk away.

    Bah. I’m feeling a little grumpy.

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  20. Add that experience to what you probably had on the road with the drivers. I keep wondering if everyone is just plain nuts or what. We did a couple of errands this morning, and the stores weren’t bad, but the drivers were going 15-20 mph over the speed limit and mad as heck that we were only going 5 miles over. Get a grip people. Yes, a rest at home was definitely needed. I’m going to the grocery store tomorrow morning at 8 am and hoping I can get in and out, and I’ll be the one with the smaller cart. 🙂

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    • Love the smaller carts. We are two people. We do not need a large family cart. Drivers are a little more erratic. A young woman flew in front of me at Starbucks earlier in the week. She didn’t even slow down. Had I not braked hard, she would have hit me. Weird thing was that since I order on the app, I had my coffee and was out of there way before her. Cutting me off did not get her drink faster.

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  21. Amen, sister! Add to it being not only just a few days of planning a big meal, but hours before torrents of rain and some possibly mixed precipitation, and there are twice as many shoppers – those getting items for their feast and those getting out to buy milk and bread per Pennsylvania rules. I went grocery shopping yesterday and got everything but one item, for which I already have an alternative at home. I now do not have a necessity to go out until an appointment on January 3rd, unless I run out of a grocery item, unlikely since I did my cold-weather stock up and can make do with what I have for several weeks. It is time to cocoon, especially with the frigid temperatures due by the weekend. Stay safe and warm and away from the idiot people out there as much as possible!

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  22. Oh boy I’m with you………..first I hate big box stores – we have a nice medium sized grocery and do our shopping when normal people (certainly not US!) are sound asleep. There’s never anyone there. I like that. In/out/home having coffee before most people have looked in their bathroom mirror and said “HOLY COW IS THAT REALLY ME??”. Anyway, enjoy your holiday even if you’re missing something. You’re the only one that will notice something that should be there isn’t. Trust me.

    Hugs, Pam

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    • We are not entertaining so I’m not worried. We have everything we need. My problem is that the store doesn’t open until 10 a.m.! That’s about the time people are starting to rally. Our “normal” grocery store opens at 6 a.m. so if we go early (like around 8) it’s quiet and easy.

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  23. I totally steer clear of grocery and other stores at this point. I got the last things I need yesterday (Tuesday) and I’m with you. Whatever I don’t have can wait until after Christmas. It will only get crazier out there.

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  24. Good for you deciding to leave Store #1 ~ I’m sure someone adopted your cart in no time!

    We got the last of our shopping done this morning at 8:30 ~ home by 9:30. Bill did the shopping, I did the planning, prepping, and putting away of our provisions.

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  25. Same here Kate. If I haven’t got it, tough. If a gammon joint (bacon) is at a sensible price, we may buy one to do in the pressure cooker for Boxing day. Other than that, any purchases that are edible would be treats, and as I am the only one likely to be eating them, it’s a good incentive not to spend.
    Happy holidays!!

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      • The shops are closed on the 25th and 26th and we have known people to panic as if it’s going to be for a week. I got my sprouts for 19p yesterday and if they end up being no good afterall, I still have some in the freezer. I’m doing my own pigs in blankets this year as I refuse to pay what they are asking for a wink of a sausage and skim of bacon. I have puds and cakes, mince pies, crisps, and I might even buy some sausage rolls. We won’t starve and I still have my bottle of poor man’s Baileys which I didn’t open last year to wash it all down! I’ve got the huge fat marshmallows (four syns each), some hot chocolate mix and the cream to squirt on the top. Diet? It’s a four letter word isn’t it……. FOOD!

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