I am aware that being a “Reward Member” at my grocery store isn’t just a way to sell me discounted gasoline and get me in on sales. It is a way to track what we purchase and get data on the buying trends of customers.
Husband and I probably purchase of some of the more exotic items at the Cash Wise store here. Who else buys all the celery root in the produce department two days running? Cake yeast? I have bought every pack the store had each week for the past month.
There is a limit, though, on how much celery root and cake yeast a person can store. We tried to grow celery root in the garden last summer but it didn’t work. We use it in soups and stews and roast meats in place of celery. I found 14 lovely celery roots at the grocery store last week and diced them, blanched them, and froze them. We have enough now until next winter. The store hadn’t stocked them for ages, and I was delighted to find them. I also have enough cake yeast to last for months. Now I feel irrationally guilty and anxious.
I worry that because of our exuberant purchasing, the store will stock all sorts of celery root and cake yeast and it will all go bad because we don’t need to buy any. That will make me feel guilty because I hate the thought of food going to waste. I also worry that due to poor sales of celery root and cake yeast, the store won’t stock them anymore after this, and when I need them I won’t be able to find them.
I realize as I type this just how ridiculous this is, how very little I really have to worry about, and what a lovely life I have. I guess that is the hallmark of anxiety-the irrationality of it all. I have baked for years using dry yeast, and I can always use regular old celery in a pinch. I think the marketing people who track our purchases will find us hard to fathom.
What would someone tracking your purchases surmise about you? Would it be an accurate reflection of who you are?
Trail Baboon 