ADVENTURES IN GROCERY SHOPPING - EPISODE 87 - It Happens All the Time. So, Im next to be waited on in the checkout line at Trader Joes this morning, and something catches my eye. Its a display hanging from the wooden rack next to the checkout line. It has little bags of dark chocolate mints that look like they were made for me. Gotta get me some of those, I think to myself. But when I reach to pull a bag of mints off the display, the whole thing crashes to the ground, the dozen bags of mints scattering across the floor. I bend down to pick up the bags, and the display, which is essentially a 3-foot iron rod with an end shaped like a candy cane that hooks over the lip of the wooden shelf next to the counter, and clips that hold the mints in place. Dont worry about it sir, Ill get it. The cashier says. No, I can do it. I reply. Im here and Ive got nothing else to do at the moment, I get up from the kneeling position, and I go to reattach the hook back over the wooden lip of the shelf, but it turns out that the lip is WIDER than the hook. So essentially, its a design flaw, the whole display is just balancing on the edge, waiting for some unsuspecting fool like me to knock it over. Like a setup for an old episode of Candid Camera, or some cruel carnival game. Almost by design. I bend over to pick up the remaining bags and the cashier, who is ringing up the person in front of me, says, Dont worry about it sir. Its OK. It happens all the time. Really? I replied. Yep, she says. It happens AAAAAALL the time. Stretching the word all out so that I get the maximum effect. So, I stand up, finish balancing the hook precariously on the ledge for the next mint lover to come along and replay the same ridiculous scenario that I just went through. And then I try my best not to sound like a wise ass, jack ass or smart ass. Or just your run-of-the-mill ass, before I utter the next words. If it happens all the time, I say in my most smiling, jovial, non-accusatorial manner, then is it possible that something is wrong with the way its attached and it should be fixed? The cashier does not respond directly to my question, but scrunches her nose up in what I take as a reply, and finishes checking out the person in front of me. And then for good measure, she repeats, Its OK. And life at Trader Joes goes on. So, I learned a valuable lesson today. I learned that if something happens all the time, that makes its OK. Repetition makes it acceptable. You know, so things like intolerance, discrimination, rudeness, all those things, dont sweat em anymore. If done over and over, they become fine and dandy and perfectly alright in our society. Thank you cashier at Trader Joes, Im a much wiser man for knowing that. And to think, all I really wanted was some mints.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 16:01:59 +0000
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