Buffet at the Supermarket, Payment Optional

I thought this would be like any other trip to the supermarket, just grab a couple of quick things and be on my way. Little did I know that today was Saturday (actually I knew it was Saturday it is the next part I didn’t know) and that on Saturdays when the store is nice and busy it is open season for the buffet. I know this is a stereotype but I kind of expect a homeless person to go into the grocery the maybe make sure of some of the unpacked foods, but here are teenagers and even 20 year olds walking around opening containers of food, eating some and putting the container back. Even seemingly ‘respectable’ couples grabbing some of the fruit off the stand and eating it while pushing a loaded cart through the store. So why does this bother me so much? Besides the fact that there is the chance that one of these days I am going to end up buying a box of something that has been previously opened and consumed, but this is what drives up my prices. For each percent of shrinkage (no this is not in reference to a blog from earlier in the week, this is the industry term for the price of lost and stolen goods) I as the consumer am being forced to pay more. In fact the supermarket I go to has it so bad that at any given time there are no less than 4 security guards to try and curtail people running out with goods. Twice I have seen people chased as they run out full speed their jacket or shirt piled full of products. The crazy thing is I do not live in such a bad neighborhood, but yet many think this is just fun and sticking it to the man. Well apparently now we are the man since we are the ones paying the price.

Now that I am off the soap box I am truly stunned by the reaction from my blog from earlier in the week. I have gotten a number of emails enjoying the openness of the conversation and in fact even taking the opportunity to ask about other things such as blue balls, why men feel the need to constantly readjust in public and shrinkage (the Seinfeld version). Fear not I am not going to go into any of those at this point, for I also got emails from others horrified that I would talk about anything of the sort in a public setting. It was not that it was about me, but rather that I was talking about something better left in private. Since when is anatomy, behavior, and even sex something to be so completely mortifying that it needs to be shunned at all costs. Why can we not have open and frank conversations especially when it is done specifically for either entertainment or educational purposes. To those of you emailing expressing disgust over open conversations about anatomy, I would frankly say, grow up. Enough said.

Ok tomorrow back to the levity that pervades my entries.