Grocery shopping during COVID-19. Or anytime

How many of you have gone grocery shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic? Or at any time in your life? I am sure the numbers are astronomical.

Like all of you, I’ve been doing it. Yes, I try to get most of my groceries from FreshDirect. It is doing a superhero job. Unfortunately, like every store be it online or brick and mortar it doesn’t have everything in stock. It is tough to lock in a delivery time. Not its fault. So us masked and gloved folks go out to our local store. We patiently wait our turn to be let in.

When we get in it in we feel like a little kid going to Disney World. We carry our own bags.

Heaven forbid we get a supermarket plastic bag at checkout. We walk around an empty store and shop. For the record, the only positive thing is you literally get the store to yourself. But what I wouldn’t give for the old way of shopping.

You grab your milk, juice, cookies, meat, poultry, and fish. Grabbing your fish, meat and poultry starts the craziness. Some of the nutty shoppers have to look at every package. And these days due to sicknesses in the meat and poultry plants there might be a shortage. Just grab a package or two. Or three. If it is not the exact cut or weight that you normally purchase, it should suffice. You and your family will be fed. Adapt to the times.

Then comes the greater challenge. You enter the fruit and vegetable department. This should be easy no matter the circumstances. But has it ever been? Sure you can grab containers of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. Easy. No, not at all. Even in an empty store, you have to fight your way amongst the crazies who have to look at each apple. Just take a few, stuff them in the plastic bag and go on. After they pick their apple(s) they then have to do the same with the tomatoes, peppers and the list goes on and on.

After you get out of that war you march up to the deli counter. That gets sicker. You have the same crazies who had to examine each apple ask a bevy of questions to the poor guy or gal behind the counter. “How’s the roast beef? Is it fresh? Oh, those chicken cutlets look good. Are they? When were the stuffed peppers cooked? How spicy are they?” And the list of dumb questions goes and on.

The only legitimate question is are the stuffed peppers spicy. Do you really think the deli counter person is going to say, “Well the roast beef is not fresh. It has been sitting on our counter since the flood. Or no, the chicken cutlets are not fresh. We cooked them last week.”

“Oh, and our stuffed peppers were cooked with old meat and wilted peppers. But we cooked them this morning. How many would you like?”

Seriously, give the people behind the counter a break. They’ve been working longer hours than usual. They are under more pressure. Pick a few items, put them in your bag, go to the register, swipe your MasterCard and go. Let someone else in.