Your crack grocery store team
We didn't go grocery shopping last week. When mom was off, she and dad had gone to both Sam's and Aldi, so between that and our prior shopping trip, we actually had plenty of food. Add in the days and days and days of snow, plus my little misadventure last Saturday, and nobody really felt like leaving the house. So, we skipped it, and went back this week, and let me tell you how much we need to rethink this whole Valentine's Day falling on Ash Wednesday bit, because there was a LOT of candy in the bargain bin that had no business coming home with me. (It didn't, if you're worried.) Yeah, I don't need it, but that doesn't mean I don't salivate at the sight of it.
Anyway. We got a bit of a late start this morning, plus it was supposed to snow today (and it did this afternoon, first time in days, and was very pretty but probably not that great to drive in), so it was crowded at the checkouts. Dad and I were waiting for the family in front of us to finish up when we heard this tinkling crash, and we look over and there's one of the manager-type people amidst this red-wine-colored puddle on the floor. He quickly calls over the intercom, maintenance to the front of the store for liquor clean-up. …Guess it's not just *colored*, eh? He must have been doing something else, because aside from picking up the biggest chunks of bottle, he just left it there and went on to something else; I saw him walk over to one of the nearby checkout aisles. Now, the people in front of us had a very full cart and spent about $300. This happened when they first started getting rung up. It took at least five minutes--the entire rest of the time they got rung up, plus nearly the entire time for us to get rung up--for maintenance to come by. There's sort of an aisle that's about three carts wide just past the checkout stands, and then there's a space for salt pallets and things on the other side. It's also about where the offices start, adjacent to the salt pallet area. The spill occurred just past the aisle and next to the salt pallets, so it wasn't in anyone's way, but at the same time a bunch of customers were walking past it. That wasn't entirely a big deal since it was so visible, but there were definite pieces of glass there--the necks of the bottles, for one, plus other chunks. And I wasn't even that close to the spill at any time. It also looked like the wine was seeping under the wall into the office, so I'm sure that person was thrilled. I don't think it was good wine, in part because the smell wafted over and it wasn't that great. Not that I know my wines, but I said to dad, I wonder if that's cooking sherry or something; he'd had the same thought. It took until our cart was more than halfway empty for someone to even put a caution sign out. Finally, as we were finishing up, that's when the maintenance team came over to clean the mess. It just seemed unsafe to have left it the way it was.
Once we got home, we made it in the house without incident, but incident happened shortly afterward. My arms were full of bags plus a couple bottles, the half-gallon of milk plus a smaller bottle of Woolite Dark. I'd wanted to take my shoes and coat off first but was going to put that in the laundry room right away to get it out of the way. However, dad started going that way since the door to the laundry room was left open. Hey, if you're going that way, could you take the Woolite and put it in the laundry room? I grabbed the bottle without paying much attention and managed to knock a bag onto the floor, where it landed with a bright-sounding thud. Dad went, I hope that wasn't the eggs. …Well, guess what. When I picked up the bag and found a bunch of lighter items in there, like the bread, I kind of figured the eggs would be at the bottom. Sure enough. I'd cracked seven of the dozen. Oops. Well, we were planning on hard-boiling them anyway; at least now we'll have an easier time peeling them! …Right? So then I had to stop what I was doing and get the eggs in water. It worked out okay, since some of them were just cracked and not oozing, but the oozing ones had, well, growths coming out of their shells. Those parts of the whites were a bit softer than your standard hard-boiled eggs, but they're still edible. Mom was all concerned, like, should we be eating them? Is that the best way to cook them? Um, they're going in boiling water; that'll kill any germs or anything if that's what you're concerned about. Or just eat the uncracked eggs. I'll leave them for you.
Anyway. We got a bit of a late start this morning, plus it was supposed to snow today (and it did this afternoon, first time in days, and was very pretty but probably not that great to drive in), so it was crowded at the checkouts. Dad and I were waiting for the family in front of us to finish up when we heard this tinkling crash, and we look over and there's one of the manager-type people amidst this red-wine-colored puddle on the floor. He quickly calls over the intercom, maintenance to the front of the store for liquor clean-up. …Guess it's not just *colored*, eh? He must have been doing something else, because aside from picking up the biggest chunks of bottle, he just left it there and went on to something else; I saw him walk over to one of the nearby checkout aisles. Now, the people in front of us had a very full cart and spent about $300. This happened when they first started getting rung up. It took at least five minutes--the entire rest of the time they got rung up, plus nearly the entire time for us to get rung up--for maintenance to come by. There's sort of an aisle that's about three carts wide just past the checkout stands, and then there's a space for salt pallets and things on the other side. It's also about where the offices start, adjacent to the salt pallet area. The spill occurred just past the aisle and next to the salt pallets, so it wasn't in anyone's way, but at the same time a bunch of customers were walking past it. That wasn't entirely a big deal since it was so visible, but there were definite pieces of glass there--the necks of the bottles, for one, plus other chunks. And I wasn't even that close to the spill at any time. It also looked like the wine was seeping under the wall into the office, so I'm sure that person was thrilled. I don't think it was good wine, in part because the smell wafted over and it wasn't that great. Not that I know my wines, but I said to dad, I wonder if that's cooking sherry or something; he'd had the same thought. It took until our cart was more than halfway empty for someone to even put a caution sign out. Finally, as we were finishing up, that's when the maintenance team came over to clean the mess. It just seemed unsafe to have left it the way it was.
Once we got home, we made it in the house without incident, but incident happened shortly afterward. My arms were full of bags plus a couple bottles, the half-gallon of milk plus a smaller bottle of Woolite Dark. I'd wanted to take my shoes and coat off first but was going to put that in the laundry room right away to get it out of the way. However, dad started going that way since the door to the laundry room was left open. Hey, if you're going that way, could you take the Woolite and put it in the laundry room? I grabbed the bottle without paying much attention and managed to knock a bag onto the floor, where it landed with a bright-sounding thud. Dad went, I hope that wasn't the eggs. …Well, guess what. When I picked up the bag and found a bunch of lighter items in there, like the bread, I kind of figured the eggs would be at the bottom. Sure enough. I'd cracked seven of the dozen. Oops. Well, we were planning on hard-boiling them anyway; at least now we'll have an easier time peeling them! …Right? So then I had to stop what I was doing and get the eggs in water. It worked out okay, since some of them were just cracked and not oozing, but the oozing ones had, well, growths coming out of their shells. Those parts of the whites were a bit softer than your standard hard-boiled eggs, but they're still edible. Mom was all concerned, like, should we be eating them? Is that the best way to cook them? Um, they're going in boiling water; that'll kill any germs or anything if that's what you're concerned about. Or just eat the uncracked eggs. I'll leave them for you.