Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Adventures in groceryland

Normally I do not mind shopping at grocery stores. In most stores, the cashier nicely asks you paper or plastic (how are you going to pay) and then bags your order. In Walts, the cashiers are the nicest, in Jewel they are fast and you have the choice of going down the do-it-yourself lane. Now that brings us to Aldi's - for some reason Aldi's has chosen to do television commercials which boogles my mind. I mean this is a store which prides itself on cheapness - every brand is a knockoff - you bag your own groceries and you pay a quarter to use their cart (a refundable quarter). So why are they wasting money advertising when they never have a SALE! Everyone knows they are a cheap store!! And then they raise prices to cover their advertising! But that is not my biggest gripe.
It seems that nearly everytime I go in there, the cashier tries to pick a fight with me. Most times, they want to use their cart instead of my cart. No big deal except my cart has boxes in it, in which I want the cashier to place my items. I use boxes because Aldi's charges you a nickel for a paper bag, thus most customers of Aldi's grab boxes off the displays and use them in lieu of bags. I usually have my cart full of boxes . But today, the clerk yelled at me for putting my items on the conveyor belt too fast (I am still wondering about that) then tried to foist her cart on me. Perhaps, this was a diversionary tactic. I jostled her cart out of the way and said: I all ready have a cart, no need to use yours. She then proceeded to move my carefully placed boxes out of the way and started to throw my precious items in the cart(and I do mean throw). I quickly intercepted her, replaced my boxes in the cart, put the items in the boxes and grabbed the remaining items as she processed them out of her hands. She won in the end though because she slammed dunked the last item in the cart. Luckily, they were not eggs, but even worse they were my precious doughnuts. Bev paid the bill, I got my nyah-nyah-nyahs in and the clerk snarled at the next customer in line while telling us in clenched teeth mode "Have a nice day."

2 comments:

Lin said...

So, do you go to Aldi's for the cheap prices or the entertainment/challenge? I'm imagining you as a contestant on one of those ridiculous Japanese physical game shows--climbing hurdles, jumping pools of algae-filled water, and finally beating the clerk (and the timer) to load your groceries. I think you secretly love the challenge, Frank. :)

Soulsearcher said...

Come on, Frank! How would you feel if your "career" consisted of being a checker at Aldi's? (Although to tell the truth I've heard they're a pretty good company to work for...hmmm.)

About Me

I am a crabby old man who hates everything
or
I am a tiny wonderer in a large world
or
I am a young hippie tree-hugger
or
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I have not decided yet.
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