I have a new grievance with Country Mart! Hiding the croissants is bad enough. But now the cashiers don't seem to understand how old people operate. It's not like Country Mart is sought out by physically fit and youthful clientele. It's an alternative for us elderly folks, who don't want to trek across a couple of acres to buy their food and necessities. Or wait in line for 20 minutes after gathering supplies.
It used to be old ladies who ran the registers. One was in her 80s, according to Farmer H. But I guess she retired, or is running wild in the streets of Hillmomba. Now there are young men. Either in-their-head, talking-to-themselves, perhaps-on-the-spectrum, but most-certainly-computer-gamers, young men. I'm not disparaging them. They have JOBS. They're AT WORK. They just don't understand old ladies.
Saturday, my checker was a strapping young man about 6'4", solid and stocky. He was over at the service desk, paying for an energy drink, but came back to wait on me. Of course after popping open his beverage and taking a sip. I don't begrudge him that. Everybody needs a pick-me-up sometimes at work. He was courteous and efficient.
But THEN...
He put all my items in ONE BAG! Correction. He put all my items in one bag and then double-bagged it.
I had just darted in for a few things. But they were all heavy. Mostly cans and jars.
2 cans baby corn
2 cans water chestnuts
1 can refried beans
2 jars Hoisin sauce
1 jar duck sauce
1 tub of pulled pork
1 plastic cup of mini Chips Ahoy cookies
1 plastic cup of mini vanilla wafer cookies
1 square plastic container of pinwheels
2 small cans of mushrooms
There was another customer behind me, so I didn't complain as I hefted that behemoth from the counter to my cart. When I got home, it was SO HEAVY to carry up the steps with my purse and 44 oz Diet Coke. I swear that thing weighed 30 pounds!
When I got inside, and after snacking the dogs, I decided to put that bag on the scale that sits beside FRIG II's freezer side.
It weighed 6.7 pounds. Close enough... I'm sure it would have been nothing for that strapping giant dude to prance up the steps dangling that bag by a pinky-finger. But for old ladies, that's kind of hefty.
When I go to Aldi's, if I only have a few things, I ask the cashier to put all the things in the basket part, so I don't have to reach way down for things rolling around... and I tell them, "You'll be old one day."
ReplyDelete6.7 pounds is just a fraction over 3 kilos. Which doesn't seem like much at all. So I got out my kitchen scale and weighed a few things. My one litre carton of milk weighs two and a half pounds, add a one kilo paper pack of plain flour (all purpose flour) and it comes to four and a half and a bit pounds, so now I get it. 6.7, while less than many newborns babies, is quite a bit to be lugging in only one hand.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest ignoring the hordes waiting in line behind you and asking every cahier to please divide the weight between two bags. I live within walking distance so if I am buying anything more than a newspaper, I take my 'granny trolley" to haul it home.
Sioux,
ReplyDeleteI used to shop at Aldi's when we lived closer, in my $17,000 house. Even right after we moved into the Mansion, I'd drive 20 miles down to Bill-Paying Town, because Aldi's was cheaper than the Devil's Playground.
Sadly, I had Baby Pony in the child-seat area in his car seat, and Toddler Genius in the bottom of the basket, because he was not good about holding on to the cart and staying with me. He liked to wander off and talk to people. I had to remove Toddler Genius at checkout, so the canned goods wouldn't be shoved off the edge of the counter and onto his toes. He would have gladly ridden stretched out on the bottom shelf, like on the Devil's Playground carts, where you put 50-lb bags of dog food, or cases of beverages, but the Aldi's carts didn't have it, I think.
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River,
Right, it doesn't sound like much if it's a baby. But you cradle a baby, you don't dangle it from a thin piece of plastic on your arm!
I wish I had a granny trolley, and a ramp to get stuff from the garage to the porch. But I DO NOT want to walk to the store!
Now that The Pony is working, I have to carry in my own groceries again!!! I was getting spoiled by him trotting out to help. I sometimes have extra bags (that have stuck together on previous trips) in the back of T-Hoe, and I put some of the heavy stuff in a separate bag, to make more trips. I was all out of extra bags this time.