13 Comments

Effin brilliant, biting, and crazy-ass surreal vid. I loved every minute of it.

Expand full comment

Yep, going grocery shopping is not fun. We went to a Price Chopper to pick up a few items. As soon as we entered the store it was as cold as ice. We were just going to get a few items but of course we had to walk around the whole store and by the time we got to the check out I was frozen. We both commented that the store felt like a refrigerator. I bet they pay thousands of dollars keeping that place at 60 degrees or lower. No wonder that the food prices are so expensive.

Expand full comment

I have my groceries delivered, weekly not monthly. Most of mine won't keep for much over a week. We do have stuff like rice, beans, and canned goods in the pantry, in the event of future no-food weeks. And there's the backyard vegetable garden and orchard. We should soon have thyme and oregano growing again in pots outside the back door, too.

I learned about psyops 20 years before the 2020 psyop, and finding myself in the midst of one the likes of which nobody had ever seen before left me with something like PTSD, triggered by going into grocery stores and drugstores. So I mostly avoid them.

Expand full comment

I prefer SCO's because I don't have to paste a smile on for a real person. However, during the Freak Out, I purposefully went to actual people, believing that it was a pretext to get rid of most real people by replacing them with the tech I was guilty of using just because I am asocial and uncharitable (love of neighbor gets real hard at times). So one day I was in the real person line and that real person was complaining to me about how lazy people are for NOT using SCO's. I told her actually I prefer machines but I also think people should not be replaced by them and the only reason I came to her line was so she would not be replaced by a machine. Sadly she did not seem to understand, agree, care or something. I still don't get it.

Expand full comment

No kidding. I was at Lowes or Home Depot, I can't remember which, and the SCO was the only thing open. I said why don't you check me out to the guy standing there and so he did. I said why don't they just open a checkout lane. He shrugged. I don't blame him. No reason for him to care about this crazy world.

Expand full comment

Well apparently so! I just had not thought of it from that perspective. I personally do not wish my career to be replaced by a computer. But perhaps there are those that either do or just don't care enough to ponder the question. I suspect the thought might be, "Fine-I'll just draw unemployment" but maybe that's a bit jaded.

Expand full comment

I get Walmart delivery and write very specific instructions on the list.

I do not tip the driver if the bags are all bunched up and stuff is smashed. They are very good here

(FOR NOW) I ask for refund if stuff arrives in crappy shape.

Locally for produce I go to Lidl. I hate the Aldi we have here. Lidl is 1/2 mile away, just up the street and down the street.... okay maybe a mile.

There I do self check out. I bag my own stuff. I bring my own bags bc Governor of Va said we have to pay 5 cents for a thin bag. It is a pain in the butt however I hate waiting in lines. Hate that.

Funny about the Walmart limit. What dopes.

You should move to Virginia. There are some nice neighborhoods in Richmond where my daughter lives (south) People in Virginia are nice not bossy.

Your posts are always entertaining. I love them and both of you too

Expand full comment

Thanks for continuing to read our madness Rosemary! Once our mom leaves this mortal coil who knows where we will end up. I'm still thinking of Arizona. Dry and warm.

Expand full comment

Well, yes, I did enjoy this fine post. It sounded very familiar. Very. Monday morning I also left home for a 30 minute drive to the nearest Walmart. I really didn't want to go out, but I needed a few things, fewer than 15.

And I ALWAYS use a SCO, for the same reasons YOU do. I can take my time, scan each item, look at the register to see if it was correct, then bag it. Yes, I bag each item separately, most items anyway. ALWAYS by type - breads together - one bag. Frozen - one bag. Cottage cheese - one bag. Shredded and block cheese - one bag. A glass jar of pasta sauce - one bag. Bag of sugar - one bag. You get the idea.

This trip was not a "stock up" trip. I only needed two 20 pound bags of economy-mix birdseed, sugar, a pepper grinder, and a package of marked down hoagie rolls from the marked down bread cart. It was loaded with all kinds of large unsliced loaves, and boxes of donuts, and boxes of pies.

I have gotten proficient at using the SCO. I know how to look up produce that doesn't have a sticker. I learned how to use the handheld scanner for the bags of birdseed. And I know which SCO machine dispenses "cash back". I like to use my bank debit card to pay for the items, and get cash back. This time I needed cash to take back to my small town to pay the water bill that was due Monday. I always pay that in cash. During the Kovid Hoax days they wouldn't let you go inside to pay, you had to drop it in the outside box, so I had to use a check, and the check took two weeks to clear, which messed up my bookkeeping.

My local Dollar General started using one SCO about a year ago, and I preferred to use it. Then they made it five items or fewer. If I had 6-10 I would just scan 5 and pay, then scan the rest and pay. Then not long ago they stopped using it. Word was they lost too much from unscanned items, otherwise known as poor people taking stuff without paying. The only good thing about my local DG is they now carry produce. I can buy a banana for 35 cents, or a bag of potatoes, or a box of plastic tomatoes. And with the receipt you get a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase on Saturday. I give those to my cousin who has the money to use several of those coupons each week. Sometimes now you get a coupon for $10 off $40. She likes those.

Well, it seems I need to start writing my own Substack, lol.

Expand full comment

I could never get into DG. There was one just built up the street and I haven't been in there yet. I should see if they have produce. But there is a nice farmer's stand across the street so I'll probably just go there instead.

Expand full comment

Oh yes, a local farmers market or stand is better. Luckily, a neighbor has a large garden and I have been able to buy lots of wonderful tomatoes lately, and earlier he had beans, cabbages and onions.

Expand full comment

this is superbly great to read, Dave the Geezerman

I do believe it is THEFT. Groceries are so expensive, I do less impulse shopping, we eat out rarely, I do walmart delivery, you would think it is expensive but my hubbs finds special deals on .... his computer, we pay $50 a year, free delivery. Anyway, I get stuff I do not need to examine before purchase. Once they sent 6 green inedible bananas (got a refund) and also twice I ordered navel oranges and got shitty oranges called Valencia so I got a refund. Anyway, not shopping in the store is great, but now I have to treadmill longer.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the kind reply Rosemary. I see the Walmart employees picking those orders for delivery. Sometimes there are quite a few in the store doing that shopping. My Walmart is in Jacksonville IL, but they don't deliver outside that city, so I still drive from my town to shop. I really do prefer to see the produce, and pick it out myself.

Odd you mentioned green bananas. That cousin I referred to - her son will only eat green unripe bananas. Once they start to ripen he will not eat them.

Good point about a treadmill - yes, it seems I walk a couple miles traversing the store from one end to the other. Probably a good thing.

Take care.

Expand full comment