Today I went to the Guelph Home Show, stayed about 2 minutes and left to pick up some groceries. I don't drive and the bus system didn't really allow me to easily get to my usual grocery store, so I went to the one nearest to the bus route I'd be taking home.
Walking there was a bit of a pain since today it decided to snow with such verocity that I had to actively throw my weight forward to prevent falling over from the wind. Thus, as I approached the store, I had a solid covering of snow on one side of me and none on the other. One astute observer specifically stopped me to tell me that I had snow all down my front that made it looked like I had been walking for a very long time in one direction. Really? You don't say? I suppose you haven't noticed the crazy weather we're having.
Moving on. I walked into the grocery store and it looked nothing like a grocery store. I saw cosmetics. Miles of cosmetics. So I turned and began walking...and walking....and walking....and nothing I passed resembled food. There was makeup, shampoo, lawn furniture, clothing, plates and just about anything you can think of that is not edible. When I finally arrived at the food, I realized that nothing was where it should be. Frozen veggies weren't in freezers (rather they were in refrigerated areas, without doors, like you would expect to find cheese and milk in), oriental spices were in the cookie aisle and markers were with the cereal. The end of every other aisle had a person with free samples. The bags to put produce in were only about a foot off the ground.
I was so profoundly confused, lost and alone in this massive everything-store. I just wanted some cereal, pasta and ingredients to make BLTs. That's it. I don't care that there are 40 thousand organic tomatoes. I want inexpensive tomatoes...and I only want a couple. I don't want ready-made sushi, nor do I want a premade salad. And I just barely understand what is meant by "canned pasta."
Then, I had a stroke of inspiration. Earlier this morning I had heard something about dried fruit being a great snack, and there was mention of dried cherries. I love cherries, and I'd never had dried ones before. So I looked for them. Surely this massive store that has every kind of every option available would have dried cherries. I got to the dried fruit cart and looked around. Apricots, prunes, raisins, mango....no cherries. The one thing that I thought I might want to get beyond the usual, that probably wouldn't be in my regular grocery store, wasn't here.
Sadly, I departed without dried cherries. Upon my departure, I was shocked by the cashier's ability to use the paypass on my VISA. I'd only seen vending machines with these things before. The ease at which the grocery store can access my money now is quite disconcerting. I don't like it. And I don't like the damn high-end grocery store with everything in it either. The store's so big, I got tired walking around in it. That shouldn't be possible. I would vastly prefer to go to specialty shops for the odd specialty ingredient when I want it (which would be almost never) than to have a massive superstore that has so much stuff that I get a panic attack just thinking about it.
One last part that really bothered me quite a bit and that is the primary reason I plan to never go to a high-end grocery store again. The people who worked there acted as though they were incredibly beneath me. Here I am, unshowered, no makeup and messed up hair and they treat me like I'm some high-powered executive that they dare not look in the eye. Some would say this is respectful and polite. I find it alienating and upsetting. It makes me feel bad. I don't want them to think I think I'm better than them. I'm not. It's ok to have a casual conversation with the grocery store clerks back at my regular store, and I feel like we're equals helping each other out. They help me find what I'm looking for and I can chit chat with them and hopefully say something that will brighten their spirits in their otherwise demanding and kind of crappy job. You get a sense of community and niceness that you can't get when people are bowing down to you. That's what struck me the most.
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