Could Be Worse

I really do not keep it much of a secret that I seriously dislike going to the grocery store.

I imagine that many people feel the same way because it seems to be a gathering place for rude behavior.

Sometime ago Barb and I made a pact that no matter how rude people around us were at the grocery store we were not going to be rude in return. We were going to make the most of it and just keep smiling. And we have done just that.

Yesterday was grocery day for us, once every two weeks, and it was the usual "joy" we've come to expect.

Over the past few months I've noticed that there are more and more "Mr. Moms" in the store, men towing a wee one with them while doing the grocery shopping for the family. I've taken this as yet another economic indicator.

Yesterday, for the first time, the grocery store easily had more men shopping then women.

We did our thing, and packed our cart. Both of us work together on a two-week menu. Then Barb creates a grocery list based on the menu and off we go. She picks out all of the items, while I control packing and pushing the cart. I work very hard to stay out of everyone's way.

The price of gas was to blame when the cost of groceries sky-rocketed some months ago. We've noticed that now that gas prices have fallen sharply, the price of groceries have remained high. Our bill certainly reflected that.

We worked our way through check-out and packed the FJ with our grocery bags. We snuck back home across back country roads. I carry everything into the house. Barb puts everything away.

As soon as everything was put away Barb said, "We're missing the sour cream and the ricotta cheese." She was not pleased.

Everytime we go to the grocery store we forget one thing - everytime. I think that's a pretty darn good percentage though. This time it was the salad supreme seasoning. But we did not forget the sour cream or ricotta cheese. We both distinctly remember getting it and paying for it, and right there it was on the receipt.

It seemed like a bag of groceries was missing. Barb looked everywhere. She checked out the FJ Cruiser - nothing. Finally she called the store, and yes the bagger forgot to put one bag into our cart. The bagger had turned it over to the customer service desk. Barb was told that they'd be happy to hold it for her, if she wanted to come back to the store for it.

We're both kind of worn out after the grocery trip, especially me, and we weren't about to immediately run right back up to the store. We decided to wait until about four or five p.m. and make the trip to retrieve our misplaced bag of groceries. Barb had figured out what was missing and it was much more than sour cream and ricotta cheese.

Running our own business we have the luxury of building our own schedules. This allows us to go to the grocery store on a weekday morning when most people are at work.

But we still find the store to be crowded despite our attempts to avoid peak hours. We felt it was crowded yesterday even though it was a Monday at 10 a.m.

As we closed in on the grocery store around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, to retrieve our lost bag of groceries, we couldn't believe our eyes.

The parking lot was completely full. People were driving around waiting for someone to leave so they could slide into a parking space. The scene was insane. It was complete chaos and disorder. All rules of driving, like driving in the right lane were disgarded. Handicapped parking spots were free game for all drivers.

I dropped Barb off at the front door and by some small miracle I was able to find myself a nice parking spot with little effort. It just fell into my lap.

I sat back and watched the scene. It was insane. Quite frankly I can't believe that I didn't witness some kind of fender bender or accident. I do know that everyone looked mad, not a smile in sight anywhere.

Barb was back out of the grocery store before long, with our lost bag of groceries, and the salad supreme seasoning we originally forgot to get. The great thing about having a big, bright yellow truck is that Barb can always easily find me.

We were off and back onto our country roads.

Barb and I were discussing the mad scene back at the store. It was only Monday night. Imagine what that place looks like on a Saturday morning.

Right then we both realized, you know we complain about the grocery store all the time. But imagine if we didn't have flexibility in our schedule and we had to go at peak hours like so many other people do.

It just goes to show - no matter how awful you think a situation is, no matter how terrible you think something is for you, there's always someone who has it worse.

What a good lesson for life. Instead of worrying about what you don't have, focus on all that you are blessed by.