Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I've grown tired of the same old grocery store. Pick & Save is convenient, but it burns me that they carry the same old stuff and the prices keep going up. I was up for a change in shopping scenery so today I decided to try "The Pig". Besides they had diet coke on sale and I seem to be addicted to it. I had to make sure that I wasn't going out of my way to shop so I did this today when I had another errand to run in the same area.

I expected more than I actually saw. Immediately upon entering the store I grabbed a flyer and noticed that I needed a club card for many of the on sale items. This called for a detour to the courtesy counter. I waited in line as the woman at the counter finished her conversation with who appeared to be her neighbor. They chatted about another neighbor and a school function they were both going to on Monday. I think my sigh may have cut their conversation short. Got the card and went on my way. The store was clean enough but it lacked stock. It's a smaller store so I liked the fact that I didn't have to maneuver around to many people. About the time I hit the third aisle I realized that this store had the feeling of a small town store. People were walking by greeting each other by name. I waited at the deli while deli girl finished up her conversation with a friend. Yes, this was defiantly a friendly store with a gift of gab.

My normal time spent for weekly shopping from entrance to check-out is usually no longer than 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. I noted the time as I made my way to the check-out. I was under the wire. I spent 10 minutes at the check-out with only one person in front of me. Of course, the cashier knew the woman and they chatted. By this time I was finding this all very humorous and the want to sigh had disappeared from my mind. Finally it was my turn and things were going well until the bagger, an elderly man, was engrossed in conversation with a customer. I watched as my groceries started to pile up and he made no attempt to bag them. I stepped over and began to bag my own. It was like a clip from a horror movie when the entire place seemed to go silent. This must have been unheard of. I am now a marked woman. I think I will forever be remembered as the woman who tried to bag her own.

I will probably return to "The Pig" if I'm in the area. What the heck..I'm sure that I've made a few friends there, and I did make it out within my alloted time.