Grocery Shopping--A New Normal

   
  Time to mask up and move out.

     Never thought I'd hear the above said anywhere but in a superhero movie. But it's our new normal here in Michigan if we're going to the grocery store. We've cut down on the number of visits we've made to the local supermarket with all this virus stuff, but every time we go there's a new wrinkle.

     They've reduced the hours they're open a couple times, which I learned the hard way after arriving at 7 a.m. to find the doors locked. They also closed off one of the entrances. We can no longer use cash when we self check out. And the number of self check-out stations has been reduced to manage social distancing. You just have to hope that you're not behind someone whose cart has a mountain of groceries as people stock up. You also have to hope that that shelves are stocked with everything you need. Chances are they won't be.

     My wife's sister has gone to ordering groceries on-line. It sounded worth trying so my wife looked up our local grocery store's website. She browsed through electronic page after page, surprised at how many different wines our store stocked. You can type in a specific item however. I typed in “toilet paper” and got one hit, “Paper Chef Parchment Bags.” No picture either (“Image coming soon”). I don't think I want to order something like that sight unseen. When I typed in “ramen noodles” the first entry on their list was “Cheating Gourmet Shrimp Bowls, Spicy Ramen Noodles.” Hmmmmm, maybe getting your groceries on-line here is more of an adventure than going in person.

     A little farther out of town is a Wal-Mart, where you have to stand in line six feet apart as a Wal-Mart employee counts off the number of people entering the store, stopping us in line if there's a bottleneck of people trying to get carts. Again, with the number of checkouts limited if you want to get out quickly, you shop expeditiously.

     Here in Michigan, stores like Wal-Mart are not supposed to be selling non-essential items. But there's confusion over what that means. One Wal-Mart even had crime scene tape surrounding infant car seats. That made national news. I felt somewhat criminal buying a few small toys to reward my grandkids for completing their educational exercises which we help with since schools are closed.

     It's rather strange in fact what's considered essential in Michigan. Alcohol, marijuana, lottery tickets are all considered essential and are in abundant supply. Flowers, paint and lumber are considered non-essential in some quarters. So forget the gardening and repair work you could have done on your house, unless you're like my brother who kept his tomato seeds from last year and has several nice plants growing indoors ready to be transplanted outdoors.

      After seeing his fledgling tomatoes, I even dug around where my tomato plant grew last year hoping to find its seeds but didn't find any.

     What about printer ink? Is that considered essential? I rushed over to the the printer ink aisle at Wal-Mart, grabbed a packet and joined my wife shopping in another part of the store. That was the most expensive item we bought that day at $48 but I thought it important since I can print out learning worksheets I find on-line as well as the governor's latest executive orders.

     When I got home, my heart sank. I had grabbed the printer packet with the number 65. But my printer takes only the refill marked 64. Arggghhhhh! Under normal circumstances, this would be remedied with a quick return and exchange. But with the new normal some stores are restricting returns or not accepting them at all right now. Not sure if that includes our Wal-Mart but I guess we'll find out when we're ready for our next shopping adventure.

     P.S.  Not sure why the type font went all funky on me, despite multiple efforts to fix it.  Maybe part of the new blogging normal.