Well, that was twice.

And by that I mean,  "first and last time". 

I mentioned on Sunday that there was this "pick-up order" that had been ordered at one of the local grocery stores.   And originally,  the delivery date was two weeks off,  and as a result,  this order had been started some two weeks ago.  And that's kind of OK,  as you can add to it right up until the day before the scheduled delivery.   Oh and,  these folks had been doing this long before the pandemic,  by the way.

T.C.  wanted to do this,  as Daughter Number One had put in an order that she picked up a week ago,  and her Mom had added things to that order.

So like I said,  it was our turn.

Eventually,  late in the afternoon,  T.C. got a note,  and I got the "OK,  we have to go pick up our order!"  command from T.C., so off we went. 

The deal is,  when you arrive at the store,  you call them,  tell them in which parking spot you are located (they have a designated area) and they bring your order out and place it in your trunk.
As I was sitting there,  I kind of wondered,  "what the heck do you do if you don't have a phone?"  but I guess everyone and their dog has a mobile phone so,  dumb question.

Naturally it was raining.   And,  thinking that someone would be out somewhat expeditiously,  I naively popped the trunk. 
And waited.
Of course,  a gust of wind came up and opened the trunk all the way up and,  thankfully we don't keep much at all in the trunk,  because whatever was in there was getting wet. 


Now,  first of all,  let me tell you a little story.   See,  when I was all of 16,  I worked in a Lumber Yard.  It was OK in the summertime,  but I also chose to work Saturdays throughout the winter.
Man on man,  you don't know cold until you've had to pry a few snow covered two by fours out of the pile on a cold winters day.   But my point is,  in no time at all,  not only did I know all the different products,  but was operating the towmotor,  cutting bridging on the bandsaw (it was huge!)  and doing deliveries.   And not just the "trim truck",  for some reason that to this day remains a mystery,  I was also sent out with the big truck to deliver framing.
 
Oh and,  this was all "pre-gps"!  There were some cryptic instructions,  let me tell ya! And,  once you were out for delivery,  you were really on your own.  No cell phones either. 

And then,  skip forward to my last year of High School,  when I worked in a small grocery store within walking distance of school.  Within a very short period of time,  I certainly knew all the products.  Now,  maybe because I spend a few early years on a farm,  I have a bit of an advantage when it came to produce?   But I doubt it.



And where the hell am I going with this?


Question: How do you end up getting radishes in your order,  when you wanted beets?    Did someone say,  "just gimme some of dem red things"? 

It's like some sort of "Grocery roulette." 

That situation might have been even somewhat more tolerable if either of us could stomach radishes.  I've tried them.  Don't like 'em.

Now,  the bonus of the "grocery roulette" situation?  Well,  we did get an extra container of bread crumbs,  as well as a third ball of pizza dough.  No extra charge.  So that kind of makes up for the time we had to waste having to go back to the store and wait for some kid to come out with a bunch of beets.

And yes,  they got their radishes back. 

The produce?  Well,  even *I* can pick out better produce.  And I'm always given stern warnings about how to pick out produce.  It would seem you're at the mercy of whatever blind employee is saddled with the task of picking out your cauliflower (with just a few too many brown spots)  along with the sad,  sad looking lettuce.
It's encouraging to know that they're willing to hire the handicapped.  But having the gift of sight is what I would consider a priority when it comes to picking out groceries? 
Just an observation. 
And even that requires sight.


I just said,  "Well,  if it's painfully average produce that you want,  I can get that at the "Food Basics"  down the street."


T.C. muttered something. 

We may just have to live without lettuce.


In other "news",   I did bake another banana bread. 

May as well.   Certainly more satisfying than any kind of shopping. 

And that,  sadly,  is the extent of the excitement in our lame little existence.


Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice,  and wash your hands.