Trippn’ at Terry’s

 Trippn’ at Terry’s

Last night I was hard at work. I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday and a five to nine shift Monday night.  I came up to bag groceries for a customer. A man and wife with about a medium size load. I bagged them up and when I finished I asked, “Carry your groceries out for you?” The man was surprised and said,“YES! We are from California. How did you know?” with a sigh “Here we go again,” I thought to myself, “NO! May I carry your groceries out to your car for you?” He answered with a smile, “No, We got it!” and off they went. Communication is a fine thing. 

There was lots to do. Buggies were continually collecting in the parking lot. I learned my lesson on this. I should keep the number of carts that I bring up to the store at a reasonable number. Four is best. Six is almost too many but I can handle it. The more I bring the fewer trips to get them. The problem with bringing more is that these are hard to deal with. These buggies are even hard to push down hill. I have bruises all over my chest and arms from man handling these carts.

I thought that I should check the floor. Was it clean or should I grab a broom? So many floor tiles! OCD says for me to count all of them. Looking at the daunting task I say, “Ok, but only the ones that are not marred, scratched, gouged, or have a sticker or gum on them.” That was easier. I came up with ZERO.

There was a child running in the produce isle. Her mother made her balloon out of a produce bag. Good idea! That kept the girl happy with something to play with as her mother continued to shop. I was outside later and saw the girl almost ran over in the parking lot chasing after her produce bag balloon. It almost got away. Good this she didn’t get hit.

After several trips gathering carts I came in to bag some more. A young pregnant mother had a cute little girl in the seat of her cart. The little girl was in a yellow shirt and white overalls. Who can resist playing with this little cutie? Being a grandpa, I teased her from across the check stand “BOO GA BOOGA BOO” with tickle fingers in the air. The mother saw her wee one with head down on the handle of the grocery cart. She is shy that way. “Olivia.” she called. She knew that I was a friendly old man playing with Olivia. They had a good size load and she had two other kids older than Olivia and the lady was pregnant with at least one more, “May I carry your groceries out for you?” she grinned and giggled, ”No English.”

Bagging the groceries I see brands of food that I had never seen before. They have brands of food that I had never even heard of. They carry a package of franks called FUD. That’s right, FUD. I have watched enough Bugs Bunny cartoons to know better than to eat anything called FUD. That is what it is called though.

Time to go home was around the corner. Carts were almost all put away. I went out to see if there were any more. I looked right and saw soapy water on the parking lot. Either that was spent mop water or Mr. Clean got really sick right there. Do they pour the mop water into the parking lot? That is odd!

The last crazy busy time was them minutes before I was to go home. At last I staggered to the car. My sweet wifey asked “How was your shift?” I said, “Ok, Lots to do. I am so tired hungry and thirsty.” Honestly I wonder how much of this I can do. I left Albertson’s because of not getting enough hours. I was offered work at Terry's Supermarket. Here I get the hours so now I better keep up. I have three days to heal before I head back. 

I miss writing about K-Dog and Little Kitty Cat Neighbor. Alas, I am not around them as much as before.  Little Kitty Cat Neighbor is still greeting the girls when they get home. That cat is wanting in our house but we can’t have that. She is boss in K-Dogs back yard and that’s bad enough.