Me and a very young Marie washing the car on Orchard View. Missing simple pleasures.
Where I live many grocery stores have provided an early hour for senior citizens aka the elderly, to shop unencumbered by the pesky, pushy youthful shoppers. I now belong to that club. So yesterday I embarked to the Kroger Superstore in Royal Oak departing at 6:30 am for the 7 o'clock opening after cleaning off the Michigan Spring snow off my car. All you exMichiganders remember this. When we applaud Springs arrival on about March 21st, we know we will be slapped with snow and cold temperatures into April. It may be why you left.
Anyway, I arrive at about 6:45 with fifteen minutes till the store opens. From where I am parked, I cannot see full view of the building. With five minutes remaining, I leave my car only to find that the line to enter has reached from the door at the middle all the way to the outer edge of the building. All the people have the suitable distance between them with husband/wife teams clutching each other. Fully masked old people trembling in the cold waiting to get in. 7 o'clock arrives and they let us in. All are clamoring for baskets wiping them down with the supplied wipes bumping into each other jostling for position.
As you might expect the first race is for the toilet paper. The shelf has a limited amount of stock. Shoppers are demanding we move quickly so they can secure their quantities. All are purposefully grim faced. Its tough to see their real expressions beneath their masks. Its then I noticed that all that were many shoppers that were not "Seniors". Since no one was pulling ID's at the door, what was stopping them? They had invited those with compromised conditions to shop with the old. Aside from the pregnant, whose to say what was their malady. There were no uniformed guards saying "hey whats wrong with you"? I used by white hair and wrinkled face as my identifier.
As I ambled through the rest of the store list in hand, saw lots of frantic people, some not knowing where things were. Everyone was moving away from each other as we have been told to do. There are very few employees to help anyone. Shelves are stocked but still some remain bare, a little disappointing, We are accustomed to fully stock stores with multiple choices abounding. Its not there yet. The lines of supply are not yet full with all the stocking up. Maybe when we believe there will be more food and toilet paper, the retailers will have time.
When it was time to checkout, I got into the largest line I have seen. There was one overwhelmed cashier on duty. She patiently soldiered on with the shoppers bitching about what they couldn't find.
The line now extended around the whole store. PA announcements are made for all available cashiers to report to front of the store. None show up. As I approach my spot to get checked out, a smiling lady pulls me into a new line. She tells me she is not a cashier but has been pressed into service. I wish her well and depart. We need to thank these employees for helping us thru this tough time.
Please stay safe.
all for now
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