A Tale From the Grocery
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It was last Sunday evening. I ran to the grocery to pick up a few things. I get to the self-check out and begin the process. As I pull out my wallet to scan the card, you know it. I didn’t have my card with me, and I did not have enough cash on me to cover it.
Has this ever happened to you? What did you do?
Let me tell you what I did. I covertly pushed my cart into a barren isle and LEFT! LoL. Seriously. I don’t know why this is funny. But I am laughing. (There were no perishable items in the cart. Here is the pic of the cart in its covert hiding place.)
Yes, I left with the plan to return with my card, get the cart and check out.
While driving back to get the card, I was talking to a friend when they asked what I was doing. I told them what had just happened. I think we were kind of laughing when I asked if they had ever done that. They admitted they had!! It made me think my bizarre decision wasn’t so bizarre after all.
It also reminded me of a couple of times, for whatever reason, I had placed an item I had picked up in isle 3 back on the shelf — in isle 7. Like putting a jar of mayo back on the shelf between the Captain Crunch and Wheaties. You know, I didn’t feel like going all the way back to the 3rd isle. I asked if they had ever done that and again, they admitted they had. I started thinking maybe this was behavior that was becoming epidemic.
A number of years ago I walked into the grocery my cousin was the manager at and found her pushing a cart through the isles loaded with all kinds of miscellaneous products. I asked her what she was doing. She said something to the effect like inventory cleaning, meaning checking each isle for stuff that had been re-shelved by those like my friend and I! I remember her saying that it was a pretty common thing, and you could tell it made her kind of disgusted that she or an employee had to spend time cleaning these things up.
Well, I did go back last Sunday night. The picture above shows my cart waiting for me, close to how I left it. It was actually on the right side of the isle when I left it.
So tell me, have YOU ever done such a thing? C’mon, truthfully.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Yep! Just last week I went to the camp store and attempted to pick up a six pack with a 10 dollar bill. Come on, it should be like 7 bucks! But no, back to my campsite I had to go for more moolah…
August 5th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Yes, I’m guilty. It does depend on whether I’m in a hurry, and how big the store is. I really have an issue with stores the size of football fields. If I wanted to buy furniture, I’d go to a furniture store; if I wanted to buy baby clothes, I’d go to a kid’s clothing store. Enough already with stores so big that I feel like I just ran the marathon when I buy groceries. I favour smaller grocery stores, but the prices are often higher. So, if I’m in a small store and not in a hurry, I replace the item where it belongs. Otherwise, well, you know.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Sorry to tell you this, because this gonna make you feel a little bit guilty, but no, I have never done that. Yes, I have been in in a supermarket when I found out that I had more items than I had money for. My reaction was to actually take the time to go through the store and carefully put back the items on their respective shelves, from exactly where I got them.
I used to work as an auditor for an inventory company (this was before my job as janitor). A store would hire us to go through their sales floor and stock room to count their merchandise (never having owned or run a store, I do not know why this is necessary). It was a pain in the neck to find an item in an area I am counting that didnt belong there. A box of donuts among the egg cartons. A candy bar among the canned soups. A box of pots and pans among the toasters. A piece of luggage among the bicycles, etc.
My employment at the inventory company has nothing to with the fact that I put things back on their proper shelves when I cant pay for them. I have been doing that long before I worked for that company. For some reason its just ingrained into me to put those things back where they belong. My employment at the inventory company only kind of validated my feelings. Because as an auditor I found out that for store employees, and auditors counting the stock, what a pain in the neck it can be to find something on a shelf that doesnt belong there.
Again, sorry if this makes you feel guilty
August 5th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Guilty as well.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I’ve only done this once. I told the chick out person I’d forgotten my wallet, set the cart aside, went home to pick up the wallet, then stood in line again. It took me about 25 minutes out from the store and back.
August 5th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
nope, but i do something similar when I go swim at the gym. Its funny but embarrasing. I either forget to take my bathing suit and get all the way to the gym locker to only discover its not there…..or I leave my bathing suit at the gym after swimming and have to rummage through lost and found to retrieve it. life is funny.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I’ve never done that, but I definitely would!!! The fact that you took a picture is what’s funny.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I don’t do that either. In fact, I make it a point to even put the shopping cart back in the parking lot corral, even if it’s an aisle away. I guess I’m anal about some things.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Even thought this particular night I planned to go back, I did put the blue berries back before I left. This isn’t a habit, BTW. And the couple of times I actually DIDN’T return, leaving the basket for some clerk to deal with, I felt guilty. That was quite a number of years ago.
(On this night, the cart contained 7 items: 1 case of bottled water, 2 jugs of distilled water, 2 packages of blueberries, 1 jar of sweet cherry peppers, and a bag of salad.)
August 8th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Leo, I’ve also done inventory audits…paint store, pistachio company, bookstore, etc…yeah what a headache. One, two, buckle my shoe. That is cool you always put stuff back. Its funny, sometimes, I’d write up the exception report on the stuff I couldn’t find, and then the business employees knew right where the stuff was because it was misplaced but they knew where it was. Other times the stuff wasn’t really there and it was actual exception. Kind of like life, can’t find stuff unless you ask sometimes.
August 9th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Done it once maybe twice. Dont feel guilty, but aggravated that I feel the need to put back something I obviously really wanted but dont have enough to cover cuz need something else more! lol