My Love/Hate Relationship with the Grocery Store

Why I love the grocery store:

1) It's a convenient place to buy most of my food, and I am there at least 3 times a week. (Glad it's on my usual route ).

2) My chain offers gas rewards. For every $100 I spend in groceries, I get 10 cents off per gallon at the pump. It wasn't that long ago that I got 60 cents off! Woo Hoo! Then, "Aaaaccck, I spent $600 on food between fill-ups?" Surely I had a few out-of-town fill ups in between, I hope.

Why I hate the grocery store:

1) Long lines and never enough checkers.

2) Terrible baggers - do they teach people how to bag groceries any more? I worked at a large chain when I was in high school and we always had a manager telling us how to do it better. I now set my groceries on the the belt in categories in hopes that they are bagged that way... never happens. I remember the little old, grumpy ladies who would insist on bagging their own groceries at my store. I have become one of those grumpy ladies.

3) There must be a list of all the things I like to eat that is used to decide which products are to be discontinued. The latest is Yoplait Greek Yogurt which I am convinced is the best, and I will pay whatever it costs to get it. There is no local grocery that carries this now. Grrrr.

4) It's nasty dirty - the only other place that gives me worse germ anxiety is a hospital. When I was getting apples the other day, one fell and rolled across the floor. I announced loudly, "And that is the reason why you should always wash your fruits and vegetables!" And no matter how hard I tried to stop him, my son would find a way to lick the grocery cart. Luckily he has outgrown that.

5) Carts are always all over the parking lot waiting to dent an automobile. They have the nice, convenient cart corrals these days. I cannot think of a good enough excuse for someone not to put their cart up. Laziness? Come rain, snow, or a screaming child, my cart will end up in the proper place. I also make sure to take a cart from the parking lot into the grocery store to help their efforts.

6) They set all the things kids want but parents don't at cart level. I have ended up with all sorts of things in my cart that I did not select. The worst spot is the checkout counter. Do you kow how hard it is to keep a toddler's hands off the M&Ms while you are trying to load your groceries? They count on that, I am certain. If anyone has any tips to avoid this, please send them my way.

I'm done hating now and off to the grocery store, again.