I recently took at trip a grocery store in Syracuse with some friends.
Now, in order to get around, I used one of those motorized carts. I’ve used them before; after chemo in 2007, I would regularly use them for two years and slowly got better enough that I didn’t need them anymore but occasionally when I was really fatigued, they came in handy.
This cart seems fairly charged; that’s a problem, as sometimes they are not fully charged and will die right in the aisle. Not such a big deal in 2007 to 2009, as I was at least mobile then, but now it could be a disaster. I would be stuck.
I’m going just fine through the produce section, and all is good. When you are not mobile, to be mobile at all – even with a grocery cart – is a great thing. Past the potatoes and apples I go, and I see sliced watermelon in a plastic container that is way too expensive, but decide to get it anyway. It sounds good, and anything I eat these days is a plus.
Into the basket it goes. Then I of course realize if I am to eat it, I need a fork. Simple enough, I go past the deli and the soup section (only spoons there) and over to the section where you can buy pizza and sit and eat it, but the plastic silverware is over on the other side with tables and chairs between me and it. In one of the chairs is a worker eating pizza and apparently on break, playing her phone, and by the silverware is a guy doing the same, but he is a customer.
I try to maneuver the cart around the furniture but get stuck. The cart will go backward but not forward. I’ve seen this before; don’t know why they work this way but that’s how it is. When I go backward, the cart goes Beep, Beep, Beep as if this is a huge Caterpillar tractor on a construction site. I can only go backward, and with every thrust to the rear, we hear Beeeep, Beeeep, Beeeep. The worker eating their pizza looks up at me but apparently doesn’t want to interrupt her break to help me. We back up, and I am stuck. Beeeep, Beeeep, Beeeep. I try to forward to get out, but it will not go forward. The guy near the silverware looks up and decides to ignore me. The worker eating her pizza is actively ignoring me. Beeeep, Beeeep, Beeeep I am backing up but getting no place. I am not an inch closer to my silverware either. Things are not going well.
We are backing up and then trying to go forward with no progress, but eventually I do pivot enough to get free, and the cart actually goes forward. I point the cart into the open spaces, where it goes forward with ease, and think of how I am going to get my silverware now. I have an idea. Rather than me get to the silverware, I will ask the friendly food service worker to get it for me.
There is a lady in front of me ordering pizza. He takes her order, and she is a take-out. That leaves me, and I ask if he could get me a fork from over there.
He is not delighted to be engaged in good customer satisfaction, but does it anyways. The worker who was eating her pizza has finished but couldn’t care less either.
He gets it, hands me two forks, and has done his duty. I thank him.
Off I go.
Now, I go by the donut section and decide I would like an old fashioned donut, which is good with tea. I pull up to the get-it-yourself donut display and get a tissue and a bag, open the door to get the donut, but the door hits the cart armrest so I can’t open it all the way and – anyway – the donut happens to be on the top shelf and I am way down here, so the question is: how do I get the donut? I sit for a minute but realize I have a problem. I do wonder if someone is watching and might be moved to help me, me sitting there with the door ¾ open and stuck on my cart’s armrest, me looking up plaintively at the donut that is not being had, but apparently no one is around or cares. We think about the situation for a minute or more, and decide there will be no old fashioned donut for me today.
The rest of the time at the grocery store went ok. The cart was charged enough, and I didn’t get stuck in an aisle in an awkward position. What would I have done? With this grocery store, I could have been there all day, and when the night crew came on someone might have said, “Hey, what’s that guy doing in aisle 12?”
“Don’t know. He’s been there all day.”
“Should we do anything?”
“Nah. We might get in trouble if we get involved. We can just mop around him.”
—
Cancer Chronicles 
very funny, customer service is a thing of the past
LikeLike