I’m all lost in the supermarket, I can no longer shop happily.
I had to go to Walmart today. I haven’t opened a new bank account out here, so I had to load cash onto my prepaid debit card, to pay my phone bill. I had just enough cash to cover it.
Dad went with me, because he wanted to return a clock that doesn’t work. I’d told him not to buy a clock because I have a few clocks that are packed and I could just hang one of those in the TV room for him, when I unpacked one. After I’d hung the new one, we discovered that if you shake it, the hands just fall to the bottom. We hadn’t realized it, right away, because I tried to hang it at 6:30. Then I took it down and hung up one of the clocks I already owned. The point is, I didn’t want to go to Walmart, but now I had to return this clock that I didn’t buy and didn’t want. I thought I could do it quickly while I went to load the money onto my debit card, then leave.
We got there and I had to go fetch a motorized cart for my dad. I drove it out to the car and then followed him in, on foot. We got in line at the service desk. After a minute, dad says that he doesn’t want to wait in line and drives away. I know he thinks that he can just make me come back and wait in line again, and return his clock. I’m thinking about how I am going to have to tell him that I am not going to wait in line again, for his mistake. Then he drives back and hands me the clock and tells me to return it. He drives away. We didn’t come here for groceries, so I figure he’ll go talk to his friend, who works in the deli.
I load the cash on my card, but they can’t accept my return, because it’s Walmart Neighborhood Market, not the superstore where he bought the clock. Then, I go into the store to find my dad. He’s picking out avocados. I tell him that we don’t really need anything else, because I went grocery shopping, the night before. Oh, and I’ve mentioned that I went grocery shopping many times, today and yesterday, before I went. We will eat the avocados, though, so we might as well buy them. He zooms away in the motorized cart, while I grab a couple of limes, since I was standing right by the limes.
I chase after him as he moves deeper into the store. I lose track of him, and then I have to use the bathroom. So I have to put down my limes and the Coke Zero I’d picked up (this is why you don’t go into the store when you don’t really need anything) and go to the bathroom, then come out and find my limes and Coke and look for him, some more. I can’t find him so I call him on the phone. He’s at the deli, talking to his friend. I walk over there, the opposite side of the store from the restrooms, and find my dad, with a cart full of stuff. Stuff that I can’t eat. Stuff that he doesn’t need, because I bought groceries, last night. I ask him if he is going to eat a pound of popcorn chicken, and 8 mini pies, and a tub of pineapple. “You can eat it, it’s for you!” he says.
I’m on a ketogenic diet, I just started it, but I have no choice but to stay on it, as a diabetic. I recently lost my insurance and I have to change my lifestyle so that I don’t go into a coma or die, without the insulin I’ve been taking. I talk about this with my dad, all day, every day. So now he’s flustered and upset, and tells me to put all of it back. I don’t want to run around the store, unshopping. So I put the pies back and tell him it’s okay, he’ll just be the only one eating the other stuff. We get in line.
I ask him if he has cash to pay for it, because he doesn’t carry a card or checks, he gets cash out and pays for everything with that. He pats his wallet and assures me he does.
We’re in the longest line in the store. It was twice as long as the other lines, BEFORE we got in it, but he kept trying to drive away, so I had to trap him in the checkout lane and make him stay in THAT line. Finally, a cashier opens another register and starts scanning our groceries. I’m feeling really tired, at this point. I just want to go home.
“What is the total?” he keeps yelling at me and the cashier, even though she is still scanning groceries. I tell him I can’t see the screen. Finally, she’s finished, and he yells at her about the total, again. She tells him it’s $43.02. He gets his wallet out. There is $15 in it.
“I don’t have it.”
“I just asked you if you had it, and you said you did,” I groan.
“I lied.”
“So, do you want it?” the cashier asks.
“I guess I will pay for it with my debit card,” I sigh.
We leave, and I complain that the whole trip was a waste of time.
“Well, we’ll have to go to the other Walmart that you don’t like, and you can return that clock and get the $3.88 back,” he says.
“Yes, but it will cost me another $3 to load more money on the card. Meanwhile, I can’t pay my phone bill, and we bought a bunch of food that we didn’t even need. That’s a wasted trip, in my book. I hate all Walmarts, not just that one.”
“Well?”
This was a relatively easy shopping trip, too. Usually he drives around in circles, spilling coffee all over the store and crashing into things, and then yells at me because he is tired and confused. I’ve been doing my own grocery shopping, so that I don’t have to shop with him. Because of that, he gets a friend to go to Walmart with him, then brings home extraneous clocks that don’t work, so that I have to to to Walmart, anyway.
I had to go to Walmart today. I haven’t opened a new bank account out here, so I had to load cash onto my prepaid debit card, to pay my phone bill. I had just enough cash to cover it.
Dad went with me, because he wanted to return a clock that doesn’t work. I’d told him not to buy a clock because I have a few clocks that are packed and I could just hang one of those in the TV room for him, when I unpacked one. After I’d hung the new one, we discovered that if you shake it, the hands just fall to the bottom. We hadn’t realized it, right away, because I tried to hang it at 6:30. Then I took it down and hung up one of the clocks I already owned. The point is, I didn’t want to go to Walmart, but now I had to return this clock that I didn’t buy and didn’t want. I thought I could do it quickly while I went to load the money onto my debit card, then leave.
We got there and I had to go fetch a motorized cart for my dad. I drove it out to the car and then followed him in, on foot. We got in line at the service desk. After a minute, dad says that he doesn’t want to wait in line and drives away. I know he thinks that he can just make me come back and wait in line again, and return his clock. I’m thinking about how I am going to have to tell him that I am not going to wait in line again, for his mistake. Then he drives back and hands me the clock and tells me to return it. He drives away. We didn’t come here for groceries, so I figure he’ll go talk to his friend, who works in the deli.
I load the cash on my card, but they can’t accept my return, because it’s Walmart Neighborhood Market, not the superstore where he bought the clock. Then, I go into the store to find my dad. He’s picking out avocados. I tell him that we don’t really need anything else, because I went grocery shopping, the night before. Oh, and I’ve mentioned that I went grocery shopping many times, today and yesterday, before I went. We will eat the avocados, though, so we might as well buy them. He zooms away in the motorized cart, while I grab a couple of limes, since I was standing right by the limes.
I chase after him as he moves deeper into the store. I lose track of him, and then I have to use the bathroom. So I have to put down my limes and the Coke Zero I’d picked up (this is why you don’t go into the store when you don’t really need anything) and go to the bathroom, then come out and find my limes and Coke and look for him, some more. I can’t find him so I call him on the phone. He’s at the deli, talking to his friend. I walk over there, the opposite side of the store from the restrooms, and find my dad, with a cart full of stuff. Stuff that I can’t eat. Stuff that he doesn’t need, because I bought groceries, last night. I ask him if he is going to eat a pound of popcorn chicken, and 8 mini pies, and a tub of pineapple. “You can eat it, it’s for you!” he says.
I’m on a ketogenic diet, I just started it, but I have no choice but to stay on it, as a diabetic. I recently lost my insurance and I have to change my lifestyle so that I don’t go into a coma or die, without the insulin I’ve been taking. I talk about this with my dad, all day, every day. So now he’s flustered and upset, and tells me to put all of it back. I don’t want to run around the store, unshopping. So I put the pies back and tell him it’s okay, he’ll just be the only one eating the other stuff. We get in line.
I ask him if he has cash to pay for it, because he doesn’t carry a card or checks, he gets cash out and pays for everything with that. He pats his wallet and assures me he does.
We’re in the longest line in the store. It was twice as long as the other lines, BEFORE we got in it, but he kept trying to drive away, so I had to trap him in the checkout lane and make him stay in THAT line. Finally, a cashier opens another register and starts scanning our groceries. I’m feeling really tired, at this point. I just want to go home.
“What is the total?” he keeps yelling at me and the cashier, even though she is still scanning groceries. I tell him I can’t see the screen. Finally, she’s finished, and he yells at her about the total, again. She tells him it’s $43.02. He gets his wallet out. There is $15 in it.
“I don’t have it.”
“I just asked you if you had it, and you said you did,” I groan.
“I lied.”
“So, do you want it?” the cashier asks.
“I guess I will pay for it with my debit card,” I sigh.
We leave, and I complain that the whole trip was a waste of time.
“Well, we’ll have to go to the other Walmart that you don’t like, and you can return that clock and get the $3.88 back,” he says.
“Yes, but it will cost me another $3 to load more money on the card. Meanwhile, I can’t pay my phone bill, and we bought a bunch of food that we didn’t even need. That’s a wasted trip, in my book. I hate all Walmarts, not just that one.”
“Well?”
This was a relatively easy shopping trip, too. Usually he drives around in circles, spilling coffee all over the store and crashing into things, and then yells at me because he is tired and confused. I’ve been doing my own grocery shopping, so that I don’t have to shop with him. Because of that, he gets a friend to go to Walmart with him, then brings home extraneous clocks that don’t work, so that I have to to to Walmart, anyway.
Sigh.
Comments
Post a Comment