The Grocery Shop Challenge
Grocery shopping used to be a simple and quick matter. There weren't any carts on wheels, only hand-held baskets with limited capacity. Stores were small and generally specialized.
In the late nineteen thirties, Sylvan Nathan Goldman, who was an Oklahoma grocery man with an innovative mind, stared at a couple of wooden folding chairs. Boom! He saw them moving along on wheels, holding an upper and lower basket and imaged his customers purchasing more groceries than had ever before been practical. Kerching! Kerching!
Goldman's mind picture became reality and he revolutionized his part of America. In large part, due to his invention we now have mega grocery stores that house food, furniture, books, clothes, tools, electronics, lamps, and even garden centers. In essence, Goldman paved the way for a mini mall within a grocery store.
One thing Goldman overlooked in creating his tremendous gift to the shopper was an orderly manner for cart pushing.
This is a cry of desperation to our law makers to act now to protect citizens. Before turning ordinary folk loose with the potentially deadly weapon, the law should require mandatory cart pushing educational courses and a license on the part of pushers. Grocery stores should be mandated to provide cart traffic controls and cart cops. Cart traffic needs immediate attention because an ordinary person transforms into a crazed maniac once the grip is tightened on the hand-bar. A strict penalty should be included for cart rage.
A usual Saturday morning inside the grocery store can leave a person overwhelmed. People are buzzing, hurried, and reckless. Movement resembles Tokyo traffic in Beijing. No one seems to look where they are cart pushing. A man purviews boxes of brownies, doesn't slow, and pushes straight ahead. Some people stop their cart diagonally in the middle of an aisle. Customers are making U, Y, S, and W turns, all which should be illegal. There isn't a left and right lane, but only one single cluttered lane. Hungry babies bawl, moms yell, and dads check their watches.
Cloned in every store is the biggy-sized guy who cuts in front, never utters an acknowledgment, then slows to an idle to read labels on the shelf. Dare try to go around him and suddenly, in kicks his sixth sense. Then, he accelerates a short distance only to more efficiently block the aisle when he slows to an idle again.
It is a rule of thumb to avoid the kind looking elderly lady who pops a wheely as she tries to maneuver her motorized cart. Stunned toddlers run away screaming as she plops down from the third shelf, along with all the chocolate chip cookies.
Susie Homemaker, once the spelling bee champ, is so organized that it seems likely she would know she is pushing against the flow, but she is so busy alphabetizing the cans in her cart she doesn't notice.
Longevity is best served by ducking the young gent determined to make his morning flight as he races with impunity toward the aspirin counter.
Multiple cell phone rings are indistinguishable for everyone except those already yapping on phones. "Well, yes dear. I will buy some bananas." Baby, "Wha-wha-wha!" With ga-ga-goo emphasis mom says, "Now, now, baby. I have to talk to dada 'bout nanas. Yummy, yummy. You love nanas, don't yoooouuuuuuu?" Please lady, focus and move that cart over just a little.
A cautious cart pusher will always pause before entering the checkout line because where there is an opening, one can count on four carts descending at about 4 m.p.h. each, at the same time, from different directions. Facial expressions appear surprised to lean that physics control even at the supermarket.
Only in the checkout line is it possible to get back in touch with the victorious feeling of survival of the fittest. However, knowing the wait would be long and boring, the grocery store guru positioned the candy and gum shelves at the entrance to the line. M&M's silently wait to undergo the mouth versus hand melt test. Four steps further down is a colorful rack which displays a variety of diet magazines. Below it, a trash receptacle to accommodate wadded candy wrappers.
Finally, heavy laden by calorie-gorge guilt and head hanging low, you stand before the cashier. With a big smile, in a bubbly voice she asks, "And, how was your experience shopping with us this morning, hun?" An uncomfortable silence follows as your eyes narrow, face becomes stony, and voice quivers. "Is this register line rated G?"
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
In the late nineteen thirties, Sylvan Nathan Goldman, who was an Oklahoma grocery man with an innovative mind, stared at a couple of wooden folding chairs. Boom! He saw them moving along on wheels, holding an upper and lower basket and imaged his customers purchasing more groceries than had ever before been practical. Kerching! Kerching!
Goldman's mind picture became reality and he revolutionized his part of America. In large part, due to his invention we now have mega grocery stores that house food, furniture, books, clothes, tools, electronics, lamps, and even garden centers. In essence, Goldman paved the way for a mini mall within a grocery store.
One thing Goldman overlooked in creating his tremendous gift to the shopper was an orderly manner for cart pushing.
This is a cry of desperation to our law makers to act now to protect citizens. Before turning ordinary folk loose with the potentially deadly weapon, the law should require mandatory cart pushing educational courses and a license on the part of pushers. Grocery stores should be mandated to provide cart traffic controls and cart cops. Cart traffic needs immediate attention because an ordinary person transforms into a crazed maniac once the grip is tightened on the hand-bar. A strict penalty should be included for cart rage.
A usual Saturday morning inside the grocery store can leave a person overwhelmed. People are buzzing, hurried, and reckless. Movement resembles Tokyo traffic in Beijing. No one seems to look where they are cart pushing. A man purviews boxes of brownies, doesn't slow, and pushes straight ahead. Some people stop their cart diagonally in the middle of an aisle. Customers are making U, Y, S, and W turns, all which should be illegal. There isn't a left and right lane, but only one single cluttered lane. Hungry babies bawl, moms yell, and dads check their watches.
Cloned in every store is the biggy-sized guy who cuts in front, never utters an acknowledgment, then slows to an idle to read labels on the shelf. Dare try to go around him and suddenly, in kicks his sixth sense. Then, he accelerates a short distance only to more efficiently block the aisle when he slows to an idle again.
It is a rule of thumb to avoid the kind looking elderly lady who pops a wheely as she tries to maneuver her motorized cart. Stunned toddlers run away screaming as she plops down from the third shelf, along with all the chocolate chip cookies.
Susie Homemaker, once the spelling bee champ, is so organized that it seems likely she would know she is pushing against the flow, but she is so busy alphabetizing the cans in her cart she doesn't notice.
Longevity is best served by ducking the young gent determined to make his morning flight as he races with impunity toward the aspirin counter.
Multiple cell phone rings are indistinguishable for everyone except those already yapping on phones. "Well, yes dear. I will buy some bananas." Baby, "Wha-wha-wha!" With ga-ga-goo emphasis mom says, "Now, now, baby. I have to talk to dada 'bout nanas. Yummy, yummy. You love nanas, don't yoooouuuuuuu?" Please lady, focus and move that cart over just a little.
A cautious cart pusher will always pause before entering the checkout line because where there is an opening, one can count on four carts descending at about 4 m.p.h. each, at the same time, from different directions. Facial expressions appear surprised to lean that physics control even at the supermarket.
Only in the checkout line is it possible to get back in touch with the victorious feeling of survival of the fittest. However, knowing the wait would be long and boring, the grocery store guru positioned the candy and gum shelves at the entrance to the line. M&M's silently wait to undergo the mouth versus hand melt test. Four steps further down is a colorful rack which displays a variety of diet magazines. Below it, a trash receptacle to accommodate wadded candy wrappers.
Finally, heavy laden by calorie-gorge guilt and head hanging low, you stand before the cashier. With a big smile, in a bubbly voice she asks, "And, how was your experience shopping with us this morning, hun?" An uncomfortable silence follows as your eyes narrow, face becomes stony, and voice quivers. "Is this register line rated G?"
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
Labels: EglPress
posted by KKHC | 2:59 PM
