three out of three are down for the count.
everyone enjoys the ‘shopping experience’ in their own way.
—
“shopping is always fun for those that enjoy it.”
-auliq ice
Feb26
Tag Archives: shopping
Dec19
no sleep ’til christmas.
this tired penguin duo is not unlike the first two people i met out in the world today
—
stopped by the store at 9am
for a simple return
on my way to the rest of my day
the only other human i saw
was a slow-moving young employee
who began our encounter
by telling me he was sorry
for accidentally spraying a lot of cologne on himself
when mistaking the top of a bottle for the bottom
shared that he was really tired
worked until 11pm, closed the store at 12am
came in early at 6am, opened the store at 7am
in between
he drove home, ate, calmed down,
tried to get a few hours of sleep in
(no time for a shower, maybe explains his ill-fated cologne mishap)
we talked about how busy it would be as the day continued
when another employee arrived
who began her conversation with him by saying:
“don’t even talk to me, i’m going on break.”
his not unexpected response:
“but, you just got here.”
she quickly shot back a:
“i told you to not even talk to me”
when i left i thanked him for working
knowing they both
still had a very long day ahead.
—
“i finally got 8 hours, of sleep. it took me 4 days, but whatever.”
-author unknown
Aug25
*rudolph.
a white-tailed deer startled shoppers
after it wandered in and strolled the aisles in a dollar general store
it seems even mother nature can’t resist low prices.
—
Shoppers were joined by an unexpected patron Friday when a female white-tailed deer wandered into the Dollar General store in Jackson, Michigan.
“I was shopping and I heard a commotion coming from the front of the store,” said Connie MacGuinness, a customer in the store at the time. “I heard people calling out ‘Oh no!” MacGuinness turned around to see the deer walking straight toward her down the aisle, she said. “I was stunned for a quick minute, then got out my phone.”
A report of the animal’s escapades reached the Jackson Police Department. Police and Fire Services Director Elmer Hitt said within a few minutes, officers from JPD and Jackson County Animal Control arrived to help lead the doe back out of the store. “It seemed as scared as we were, but it didn’t run around or seem upset,” MacGuinness said.
Another shopper told MacGuinness they saw the deer walk into the store through the open sliding door at the front of the building.The deer was in the building for about 20 minutes before police guided it outside an open door by barricading the aisles with boxes and carts.
*note: my personal theory is that rudolph had a lot of shopping to do,
hoped to beat the black friday crowd in november,
wanted to fly under the radar, and stock up on some good deals.
unfortunately rudolph is now such a celebrity
that it’s hard to be out in public
without being noticed and posted about on social media. – beth
—
“i’m like rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. if i’m not ready, the sled isn’t going to go.
-kevin garnett, nba championship player
—
credits: photo – connie macguinness, mitchell kukula, mlive.com, jackson police and fire
Jan22
quit.
the ever-sweet, caring, overworked, underpaid, and passionate manager
of the local dollar store
left this sign as he headed out
for one last time.
(below is what i wrote about him in a post a couple of years back)
when one local dollar tree store closed
my favorite enthusiastic manager
moved to the new location
and judging by my recent visit
he has not lost one bit
of his dollar store fervor and expertise.
this was a conversation between bob (the manager) and evelyn (my cashier) as i was checking out:
E: “bob, you’re really good at remembering all of the balloon numbers to ring up and knowing each one of them without looking.”
B: “well, i’ve been doing it a long time. once in a while a number will change or a new shape will come in, like a unicorn, but it’s part of my job to keep up with it.”
E: “when i worked at the grocery store, i knew all the prices for the cucumbers, the peppers and tomatoes. the easy ones”
B: “some are trickier, like avocados, and for some of those things you only see sometimes it’s harder to remember the all the plu’s.”
E: “it’s really a skill, bob. to be able to do that.”
customer john interrupts:
J: “hey bob – so this is where you’ve got up to – how are you liking the change?”
B: “hey, john. good to see you. it’s great. every day is great. i’m so lucky to be here.”
and how lucky is dollar tree to have bob as a manager?
a man who truly loves his job
takes pride in all of it
is always smiling and helpful
knows exactly where every item in the store is located
and who happily learns the number for the new unicorn balloon.
“so tired you want to quit, then you get more tired, and forget to quit.”
― c
― c
Jan11
aisle of shame.
The “Aisle of Shame” is the unofficial name Aldi enthusiasts have given the store’s middle aisle, home to a weekly rotation of curious edible and non-edible products available only while supplies last. We’re talking everything from vegan lasagna made from lentils to a churro maker and apple cinnamon latte-flavored dog biscuits. The recipe for the Aisle of Shame’s surprising cult status combines the joy of a bargain, the thrill of discovery, the allure of the unusual, and the satisfaction of snapping up a limited-time offer.
“It’s something that you can use to express yourself and add fun and joy to your grocery shopping,” says enthusiastic shopper Brenna Bazemore of its odd assortment of products. “I hate grocery shopping, but I love to go to Aldi and shop, because I know I’m at least going to get something that I can use outside of food and that’s always exciting to me.”
Plus, she can share her excitement with a million other AOS fans in the Facebook group where members share more than recipes, reviews, and Insta-worthy pics. With an evolving lingo, hashtag trends, and a propensity for random acts of kindness, the Aisle of Shame community is a unique food culture inspired by a grocery store. The Aisle of Shame’s edible advent calendars contain beer, cheese, and more. “It started as a fan group and it has become so much more,” writes Stefanie Fleming, the creator of the Aisle of Shame website and Facebook group.
While each week’s AOS items can often seem like a compilation of randomness, a method exists. Since Aldi keeps prices low by stocking about 1,400 products (mostly staples) compared to a conventional grocery store’s 40,000, the AOS introduces more excitement and variety for shoppers. The aisle, which each week is split 50-50 between edible and non-edible items, often has a theme, whether seasonal (pumpkin foods in the fall; pool products in the summer) or regional (many AOS enthusiasts plan meals of schnitzel, spätzle, and strudel around the aisle’s German Week). Nils Brandes, a retail consultant who has co-written a book on Aldi’s business strategies, estimates that 20 percent of all yearly sales come from these products.
The Aisle of Shame is also where the grocers test new products to gauge their popularity—the vegetarian and vegan Earth Grown and gluten-free LiveGfree product lines, for instance, advanced from the AOS to the main aisles. “It’s crazy to think this is a grocery-store community,” Bazemore says.
After some thought, McKillip observes that Aldi shoppers might be more down-to-earth, their need to make a dollar stretch giving them both a healthier perspective about the products and more joy when they have room in their carts and budgets for the AOS’s more quirky products. Ultimately, though, she offers a simpler explanation: “It’s fun.”
—
“you’ve got bad eating habits if you use a grocery cart in 7-eleven.”
-dennis miller
Dec13
wonderland.
stopping by this amazing wonderland of a store
was like stepping right into willie wonka’s factory
all joy and color
sweets of every kind and shape and size
old favorites, new delightful unusual treats
happiest place in town
nothing was impossible.
—
“Mr. Willy Wonka can make marshmallows that taste of violets, and rich caramels that change color every ten seconds as you suck them, and little feathery sweets that melt away deliciously the moment you put them between your lips. He can make chewing-gum that never loses its taste, and sugar balloons that you can blow up to enormous sizes before you pop them with a pin and gobble them up. And, by a most secret method, he can make lovely blue birds’ eggs with black spots on them, and when you put one of these in your mouth, it gradually gets smaller and smaller until suddenly there is nothing left except a tiny little dark red sugary baby bird sitting on the tip of your tongue.”
-Roald Dahl, ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’.
Nov6
baskets full.
we’re gonna need another cart –
—
“the discovery of a wine is of greater moment than the discovery of a constellation.
the universe is too full of stars.”
― Benjamin Franklin, circa 1700s
Oct19
stuck.
while shopping at target recently
i found myself in a long, slow, self-checkout line
behind a family of three-
a tired after a long day looking mother
a perky tween daughter
and a high-energy young son
who was clearly bored and restless.
needing to create something to do
the young son
somehow found a way to
push his head through the middle of the skeleton wreath
that they were waiting to purchase.
due to the crazy universal law of
‘on is easier than off’
he could not get it
back over his head to take it off again.
first he tried to get it off himself,
then his sister joined in,
when she heard his yelping
mom turned around, sighed, put her things down, and proceeded to help
looking at her wits end
as they patiently worked their way toward the front of the snaking line
continuing to struggle with the skeleton wreath removal project.
when they finally were in the front
mom asked the store clerk if she could scan the wreath while he was still wearing it
and deal with getting it off after they purchased it
she got the go ahead, scanned it on his neck, along with all her other items
and moved out of line.
employees quickly jumped in to help
with one holding his ears flat,
another tilting the wreath in a variety of positions,
his mother putting lotion on his face
moving his head up and down,
and his sister trying to keep him calm.
when they were finally able to free his head from the wreath
he stopped crying
mom quietly pushed her cart out of the store
her son carrying the wreath
his sister holding his hand
looking like they were all more than ready to head home.
—
“there is no panic like the panic when you momentarily feel
when you get your hand or head stuck in something.”
-peter kay
Jan5
else.
so much going on
if nothing else
you might never need
to shop anywhere else
so many options
none really appeal to me
maybe because i’m in the
‘& everybody else’ category
maybe it’s something else.
—
“marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.”
~ david packard
Nov16
mixed message.
fashion fad: mittens are the new shoes.
—
“organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”
-a.a. milne
I didn't have my glasses on.... 