Business, Food, Mysteries, Technology, Uncategorized

Stymied

30 Comments

Today’s post comes to us from Ben.

I volunteered to stop at the Grocery store the other day. Typically, that’s either Target or HyVee. Usually HyVee because I like the Smile in Every Aisle. And we know a few of the kids who bag groceries.

I only had to pick up a few things; Cheese, sliced deli ham, lettuce, milk.

I picked up some Halo Oranges because they’re right at the front door you know. I like oranges, but they’re unpredictable; I might get 18 good oranges and then a bad one and that’s it; I’m off oranges. But the little Halo’s; they always seem to be good. I never liked mandarins, just Halo’s. Then it was pointed out to me that Halo’s ARE mandarins. I refused to believe it at first; I don’t LIKE mandarins; don’t make me eat them! Ah well, another life lesson learned. So, I got Halos, I got ham, I got cheese… and then I remember I need lettuce and I stood there by the meat department trying to picture where the lettuce is in the store. I’m thinking well, it must be refrigerated but I can’t quite picture it over with the pizzas. I look around where I just was with the baloney and I know I didn’t see it there… Hmmm… I just can’t picture it. I had to ask a kid stocking a shelf and as soon as he pointed, I knew where it was. Just over there by the oranges. He gave me detailed instructions on finding them.

Just a brain fart on my part; soon as he pointed, I knew where it was.

Over to the lettuce and Kelly had given me pretty simple instructions; I just needed HyVee or Dole Shredded lettuce. (Sometimes it’s more complicated than that). And I get over there and it’s a whole wall of lettuce. I had to call Kelly. Again. I can’t usually go to the grocery store without a call to clarify something.

Lettuce shouldn’t be so hard. But there’s kale and spinach and coleslaw and green leaf and red leaf and Romain and Swiss chard, salad greens, and organic and and and. Kelly talks me through it. “All the way over on the right are the apples. Next to them are the boxes of lettuce we usually buy. Then there’s the shredded…” Ah. There it is. Boy. It shouldn’t be so hard for me. I’ve always joked I can’t find it if you put it right under my nose like that. And if I think it should be “here” and you move it over six inches, I’ll never find it.

The next day at Target I couldn’t find the Bi-Flex pills for our aching joints. She asked if I was in aisle E14. Yes I was. She kept telling me the Target App said they had it. I told her I begged to differ. The app was right. It was down on the bottom shelf and stuck in the back of the rack. Darn apps think they’re always right.

Got a favorite phone, iPad, or computer app?  

30 thoughts on “Stymied”

  1. Son and DIL use some sort of grocery app that they can “synchronize” so that they both have the same items on both their phones. I prefer the old fashioned paper grocery list, and if I am energetic I even organize the list so that all the items are in categories and listed by where they are in the store. Husband usually is the list maker and we sometimes have to backtrack to areas of the store where we have ready been. I get irritated when that happens. My internal store map is better than his.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I keep a running list of items needed on my computer, I add to it whenever I think of something we need. I enter them on the list in the order of where in the store they are located. When either husband or I get ready to go shopping, I send the list to his phone or mine, works like a charm.

      Aldi sends out a weekly “flyer” of specials for the week. I usually go through the “Aldi finds” for items that are special buys, but I don’t generally expect husband to find those unless I know precisely where in the store they will be located.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  2. We were in Hyvee in Brookings several times last week. Our son’s friend is a butcher there, and he and son are often grilling for eachother’s families.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. i put a list of stuff on my list on my i phone
    start with what i’m thinking about scan the different stash areas i. the house in my brain and add spices liquid fruit ask debbie if we need meat wine etc
    costco aldi menards
    no apps to speak of but maybe i need one
    also and walgreens are showing up on door dash and i hate trying to figure out where someone else’s grocery requests are but man it pays well

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Just kidding mostly, but I have only understood what an app is since I procured my little iPad, and as I’ve mentioned, there’s still a steep learning curve… So far Zoom & Facetime are favorites, and we’ll soon see if Google Meet works.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  6. Oh Ben, this made me laugh. I can just see you, all befuddled, and unable to figure out where to find the lettuce in a grocery store. But I bet you know your way around Home Depot or Menards pretty well.

    No, I don’t have a favorite app on anything. Though I have only the fuzziest idea of what an app is, I know I have several on my iPhone, but I have never used any of them. Truth be told, chances are I don’t even have my phone with me, and if I do, that I won’t be able to figure out how to use the app if I even think to look for it. It would never occur to me to use an app to locate an item in a store. You can do that? Really?

    Husband goes to the store more often than I do, and like you, it’s a rare excursion that he doesn’t have to call home for clarification about something on the list. For instance, I like the relatively small Campari tomatoes. I find them more flavorful than the larger, paler winter tomatoes that were picked long before they were ripe. This has been the case for years, though not during the summer when I get all of our produce at the farmers’ market. Yet, unless I specifically write down Campari tomatoes, he’ll come home with the larger tasteless ones. Same thing with cucumbers. We like the English or seedless cukes. It’s what we grow during the summer, and is pretty much the only cucumber we ever use. He knows from growing them that if you don’t harvest them at the right time they grow into huge, coarse and seed-filled monsters. Yet, at the store he apparently finds the bigger ones irresistible. It’s as if he thinks he gets more for his money if he buys a bigger one. I could go on and on. If, for instance, I write on the list: “Green vegetable – whatever looks good to you,” that’s sure to cause anxiety. I’ll explain that I’m just looking for a whatever green vegetable looks good at the moment. It might be broccoli, spinach, kale, green beans, Brussels sprouts, leeks, whatever, I’m just looking for a little variety.

    I suspect that part of the difficulty is that he rarely does any cooking, and when he does, it’s always the same thing. He makes some terrific Danish meatballs, and that’s pretty much the extent of his cooking repertoire. So when faced with a bunch of kale, or a leek, or, heaven forbid, Brussels sprouts, he doesn’t have a clue what to do with them.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    2. brussels sprouts are my new best friend
      i cut up 4 or 5 and throw them in with potatoes in a skillet or roast them with something

      aldi has a thing where you can have a curbside pick up of the stuff you want no charge
      just give them 2 hours and they’ll have it ready fir you

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      2. I’ve done the pickup thing several times, but don’t like it very much. It’s hard to find the things I want online. Some things I know they have in the store they don’t offer online because not every store in the chain has it. Some things they just can;’t find and take off the order at the last minute. Sometimes they fill with the wrong thing because they haven’t read the label carefully enough. It’s rare that I they have everything and get everything right. And I rather choose my own banana.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  7. I have a lot of apps and icons on my phone screen and I hate adding something new because it messes up the pattern then. If that one is supposed to be first in the third row, I hate it when it shifts to last in the second row because I deleted something. I spend a lot of time shuffling trying to keep things where I want them.
    I know. But it’s a hobby.

    Did you know you can save a website to your desktop? As an icon? So I have several of those. First page of my phone is the calendar, clock, Google Maps, IMDB, Solitare, WordPress, the light board remote, and camera and photos.
    The light board remote App is probably my favorite. It saves so much work and makes my job so much more convenient.
    After that I try to group similar themes by page: Page 2 is mostly theater related stuff. Three is other utility things like farm web pages, next page is games and fun stuff.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. I have a boatload of apps on my phone, most of which came with the phone and I have no clue what they are or what they do.

    I am on day 244 using Duolingo for Italian. I’m not pushing myself using this app so it’s not like I could go to Italy and survive, but I’m having a good time with it. I have a post it note app on the phone that I use occasionally if I want to remember what I need to pick up at the store. But since I own more physical post it notes than anyone on the planet needs (except maybe those ebi bird guys) I mostly use one of those.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  10. They’re building a HyVee near us, I hear good things about them. Hope they live up to my expectations, though its opening is probably a year or two away, I think. I love the Mississippi Market, but it’s a pricey place to shop.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. And I am late again, Baboons,

    For shopping I use the app “Out of Milk” that I can sync or send to Lou’s phone. The problem with that is that Lou often forgets his phone, cannot hear his phone, does not look at his phone. SIGH.

    Gotta go finish my work day. Ben, I get the thing where they move something 6 inches and I cannot see it.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  12. Since I do most of the cooking and 90% of the shopping, I don’t use a list on my phone, don’t need to synchronize with Robin and seldom even make a paper list. I just keep an inventory of what we have and what we need in my head. As the primary shopper, I know where things are in the various stores. When Robin is stopping at a store for some reason and we need something, we have a conversation; no apps necessary.
    Also, as the primary shopper, I have learned what stores have the better price and quality on any specific product and shop accordingly. As the primary cook, I have a general notion of some of the things I would like to make that week and some of the ingredients we need to use up.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

        2. I think he’s pretty much finished, whatever happens. An impeachment or a resignation would put the cherry on top, but even barring those, he can’t run again. McConnell and Pence have broken with him, and he’s completely toxic now.

          Liked by 1 person

  14. I was fun reading about your route through the grocery store, Ben – reminds me of the Family Circus cartoon when they had arrows showing the path of the little kids…

    And Husband and I join you and Jacque in the “move it 6 inches” scenario.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  15. I get confused by all the options available. I remember when if you wanted cauliflower, you’d either get a head of it from the produce section or you’d go to the freezer aisle. Now you can buy a package of chopped cauliflower in the salads area, with or without broccoli, or there’s a deli counter where they have some chopped in a little tub, or there’s a salad bar where you can take a tongs and buy it by the pound. I get overwhelmed. Help!

    As far as apps, I keep downloading them from everyone who urges me to “Download our app!” But I end up just calling them anyway.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.