Family Shopping

When I was a kid, family shopping meant every other Saturday, Dad and Mom loaded up my brother and sister and I into the rambler station wagon and made the trip to the A&P or Thriftway where we bought our biweekly groceries. There were no seat belts, so us kids were allowed to roam the back seat and the rear cargo area.

Today you do kind of the same thing. Mom and Dad load the 5 kids, grandpa and grandma, uncle and his wife and 3 kids into the minivan and head to either Walmart or Winco. In my opinion Winco has to be the least taxing of the two. At least you know you will find some bargains and it will not take you an hour to check out, because Winco has more then 2 check stands open at a time.

It all starts when you get a cart and walk thru the door. Standing there right in the middle of the door is that family of 10 blocking everyone from coming in as they get the babies into the shopping carts, herd the kids down the aisles, pull out there shopping lists and act like they don't know where they are.

The challenge my friends is in negotiating the aisles. You have to be very alert. There are many dangers lurking around every corner. you never know when you will find a shopping cart left standing right in the middle of the aisle by some over weight homemaker who is twenty feet down the aisle. As you try to inch your way around her cart she comes back and is glaring at you like you just stole her purse or something. Or when all you want to get is a can of chicken noodle soup, you can't get close to the shelf as someone is blocking it with there cart and body as they read the label on every can and can't make up there mind which generic brand to buy.

The real difficulty comes when you head down the aisle and come across that family of 10 and everyone is all over the aisle pulling items of the shelf and being yelled at in a language I don't know. When you finally get around them you breath a sigh of relief until you turn the next corner and there they are again. you can't figure out how they got there so fast. When you get up to them, you can't seem to make them even move.

Then there is the lady who spent 10 minutes picking out cucumber and will not allow anyone to get close while she is doing it. Or the guy that is sampling all the bulk food while all you want to get is some sunflower seeds.

There is always one lady that likes to figure out what direction everyone is going and do the opposite. She hugs the end caps when she turns the corners into the next aisle and you have to swerve out of the way or risk being sued for a head on collision.

I like the couple who came to Winco for there date night and they are slowly walking the aisles and giggling to each other. Every time you try to get around them they speed up.

All in all I still enjoy the ritual of shopping. My problem is I know what I want to get when I am there and seems like everyone else does not have a clue.

Finally I make it to the check stand, unload my groceries and head to the end of the conveyor belt to bag my groceries. Only I can't get there. The person in front of me has left there cart in the check out lane while they bag there groceries and ignore you as you say excuse me trying to get around them. I figured it out the very first time I went to Winco that you take your cart and park it at the end of the conveyor belt. Seems to make everyone happy. But most don't seem to want to be respectful.

I head out the door to the parking lot and here comes the mini van full of the family I kept running into in the store.

I guess one thing has not changed. The kids are not wearing seat belts and are all over the back seats and in the cargo area.

Next, we need to talk about sampling at Costco.