Grocery Store judgment
Do you look at people in the line at the grocery store? I do. I check out what they are buying and make assumptions based on my observations. Example: You have 15 cases of pop and a bunch of hot dog buns and hot dogs at Sam's. Clearly, you're not here shopping for your family. Some activity is going on. Example #2: You have yogurt and 20 lean cuisines- you have no kids and probably live alone.
Last week I went on a crazy grocery shopping spree. 5 stores in one day (Sam's, WalMart, HyVee, Aldi, and WonderBread outlet.) I almost never do all of this in one week. I try to stagger the stores. But I hadn't been shopping in a long time and we were out of everything!!! Sooooo, off I was. I realized at the end of the day that, depending on what store you saw me at, you would have very different opinions of me. I buy my junk at Aldi; cereal bars, fruit snacks, granola bars, etc... Sam's I buy a ton of stuff, definitely a hodgepodge of items. Maybe I would get judged on my 5 gallons of milk or the 12 pack of mac-n-cheese? But at HyVee I look GOOD. HyVee is my fresh produce stop. I buy a bunch of produce and like 14 quarts of soy milk. No junk, no red meat. People who see me there get a totally wrong idea of who I am. I am not an earthy crunchy health food fanatic. I'm a busy mom who has a kid that's allergic to milk.
Anyway, I just think it's funny how we can get ideas about people and they can be totally wrong. I'm trying to avoid this in my life. I want people to see me the same at school and work as they do at church, but I think a lot of times church is my HyVee, and my life can be more Aldi's.
posted by Stephanie @ 2:50 PM
21 Comments:
Funny! I watch what other people have in their carts also. I laugh when I see young men carrying out the big packs of toilet paper.
I don't care for Hy-vee's produce. I prefer Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market for fruit & veggies.
My WalMart has NASTY produce, and we have no Neighborhood Market nearby, so I do not know about that side of it. HyVee's produce is my best option, and their soy milk is 99cents a quart (as compared to 1.89 at WalMart. (Just in case you all were planning on stocking up on soy milk!)
Thanks for the tip hooch. You're cracking me up...
since I work at wild oats, that's all I do for hours and hours - judge people. it's funny, and sometimes I'll even ask people about what they're getting. But wild oats is a friendly place, where people come in all the time (some people every day...) and so we get to know the customers really well. I like soy milk! you should try the silk egg nog. (I guess maybe you don't drink that stuff, just somebody else, but it's good, and obviously way healthier than regular egg nog!)
When I worked in a grocery store I made a few observations.
Older people tended to get more produce and larger varieties of it (kale, savoy cabbage, weird root things that I had never noticed before). If you are lonely and in your mid-seventies, check out the local produce department. It is the place to be.
Younger people tended to stock up on pop to the gills. Some day that will catch up with us.
People will complain about the price of a $0.33 package of string cheese, but will spend $25 on a carton of Marlboros without batting an eye.
There are a lot of people who buy the majority of their groceries for the month at one time. I think they all went through my line.
Or you just think they are buying their groceries for a month at a time. My groceries would last most people two months, but for us- mayyyyybe two weeks.
Hi Tiff! How's it going? Where are you?
seminole... don't be mad at me...I'll try to call you tomorrow. I've been too exhausted to pick up the phone and talk. I haven't answered the phone once today. I have a couple of sicko's over here. Both babies need the nebulizer three times a day. Not much time to do much else. I'm going to fall into bed... right now. My butt is officially kicked...
Walmart's produce is awful, even the neighborhood market at 90 something in Metcalf. Our Hy-vee has good produce.
Do you have a category for husbands with a short list from their wife who buy to many strange extras. I always feel a little embarrassed as they scan my milk, eggs, apples, bananas, salt and pepper kettle chips, ice cream, hot fudge, 12-pack of Coke (good sale), bbq sauce (good sale), Chai Latte powder, smoked gouda.
When I go out you never no what I'll come home with. What should be a 15 minute trip takes 45 minutes. It is never safe, but it is good.
Purple Rain, I say you should bring some of that soy nog to class this sunday.
hen house is the only to place to buy wonderful produce...
Grow your own produce.
Hen House is a wonderful place to pay more for food than one needs to.
Side note: One thing that I cant stand about Price Chopper and Hen House is that you have to have one of their stupid cards to get dicount prices. Hy-vee on the other hand has already low prices.
hello... total commercial for hy-vee. You've got that down pretty good.
Isn't it sad that you have to pay high prices to be healthly. Seriously... you can buy all the crap you want at aldi's for like a quarter. Maybe that is why americans have trouble being so thick.
Thick or dense, one of the two. :)
About men and shopping, I offer the following dialogue from the Simpsons episode "Homer and Apu."
Apu: Let's go to...that line.
Marge: But that's the longest.
Apu: Yes, but look: all pathetic single men. Only cash, no chitchat.
Hen House is nice, though. A couple of blocks away in Prarie Village is a Hen House Boutique. (a scaled down version of the huge stores.) We run there for quick items. Vernal and I joke about the regular shoppers at this snobby grocer - They gather all their produce and put it in their baskets or carts without a plastic bag.
A shopper will have a box of ceral, milk in a glass bottle, two red peppers (no bag), 3 oranges (no bag), broccoli (no bag), etc.
Is that just a Hen House trend?
I used to be a Hen House shopper. It was a happy place. I loved Hen House(however, I used bags!) Then I discovered how much higher priced they really are, and after popping out a few more children, had to bid Hen House farewell.
Gigi only likes Hen House because they provide her bling bling!
What is bling bling?
Are those like free samples or is it a special kind of cup cake?
I'm not sure what my bling bling is either?
Seminole what's my bling bling?
What the F*ck is Hen House??
It's a very nice local grocery store. Watch your language!
If she weren't watching there wouldn't be an asterisk. :)
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