Grocery Store Observations

Observations from a short trip to the grocery store.

Don’t expect to pull into a parking stall until you’re able to fully see the area and know whether or not someone is pulling into that same stall from the adjacent drive and stall.  I know people do this, and I’ve done it myself, but one would think one would look ahead to see if someone else might be on the verge of turning in.

One of the younger clerks had the name “Pandy” on her lapel pin.  I’m not sure if that was her given name or if it was a nickname of some kind.  I’ve never heard of Pandy before now.  I have to wonder what the person or people who named her were thinking when they came up with that one.

Manager’s specials are fine, but not on sour cream and cottage cheese when the out date is today’s date.  Some things can be frozen, but I don’t think it’s worth it to try to freeze those items for preservation.  And they had a lot of it to sell.

I headed to a check out lane when an associate told me that the first lane, the one for 15 items or less, was clear.  As I headed down there I noticed no one was manning the lane and the lane light was off.  I said something to her about no one being there.  She told me that the woman who was checking on lane 5 was closing that lane and moving to lane 1.

As I arrived at lane 1, the woman had just gotten there and started logging in.  I said something about the fact that she got to change lanes.  She told me she didn’t see why she needed to move from one lane to the other, and I said something like, “Probably someone at corporate headquarters thought you needed to move.”

She looked at me and said, “I have some things to say about corporate headquarters, but if I told you, I’d probably be in trouble.”

All of the different varieties of potatoes in the five pound bags were the same price…don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before.  Usually, one is quite a bit cheaper, or one is a lot higher in price.

Some people just think the aisle in front of them should just open up for them as they go through.  Sometimes, that doesn’t happen.

I’ve never seen anyone actually buy anything from the oriental man in the booth who creates the deli fish thingies.  I didn’t see anyone today either, but he had a helper in that little booth.  I wonder if she felted cramped in with him.

You can get an idea of the profit margin and “moveability” of items by the amount of shelf and floor space they occupy…the more floor and shelf space, the more the profit in that item.  Now, look at the soft drink aisle, the chips aisle, the cereal aisle, and the personal care products aisle.

Happy shopping!