BLACKBERRIES!!

We started the day off with a walk. We have been trying to do that. Down the hill and around the corner was a garage sale. We saw a mirror that Alexander might want – texted him – yes, he wanted it. We walked around our regular route, went home to get all the cash we had ($13), then back to get the mirror. $4 for the mirror, $6 for the matching pair. Obviously, that was a bargain, so I had to have both. (Alexander will not want both. I will explain it to him. He will say, “Do you know what I could do with $2?”) There were some white drawers and shelves and boxes that were obviously once designed for scrapbooking materials (all on a 12×12, so you know it for scrapbooking). I wanted them. I do not need them. I like little drawers. They were $8 for 6 units. Keith texted Alexander. No response. He decided we would get them (I was dithering). We did not have $14, nor could we carry all of this stuff. (New stuff!) Keith gave them the $13 and said we would be back. As we walked away, I told him he was a bad garage sale-r because he didn’t offer them $13. He said he hates those people. I agreed. I went back with 3 quarters, 2 dimes, and a nickel. The lady said thank you and that she would have taken $13. I said she was already giving us a good price.

I unloaded at home, then loaded up laundry baskets and grocery baskets for a Sam’s Club run. I needed rotisserie chicken. I saw a recipe that called for one shredded rotisserie chicken, so I needed it. If I was going to buy one, I would buy several to make creamed, peppered chicken (take the meat off, simmer the bones, make stock, make the stock into gravy, add milk, add lots of pepper, add back the chicken, serve over potatoes or rice or nothing. We like it a lot!) I got to the door and opened the app to show my membership card to the door guard. The store opens at 10am and the whole deal with the garage sale had me arriving right at 10am. The parking lot was quite full and many more cars were pulling in. I think people with super special memberships can get in before 10. I didn’t think people actually had the super special memberships, but I appear to have been wrong. (huh) Or, Sam’s is very nice and just lets people in early. Either way, when I opened the app, it didn’t know who I was. I cleverly tried to guess the password. Nope. I tried a couple reasonable guesses. People were streaming past me. As I waited for Keith to respond to my HELP text, I counted. Turns out the password was preassigned by Sam’s and was realllly long and very random. I tried copying it, but it wasn’t working. I was very hot and very frustrated and had to tell myself to be calm, but the very real possibility was that all these walking-by-me people were taking all the chickens!! (I once went during pandemic and there were no chickens. It scarred me – apparently for life.) Keith’s usual implacable demeaner held strong. He logged in. He changed the password to something wieldy. I sent insane messages threatening to cry (typing that just made me laugh. Keith walked by and said, “You made yourself laugh”). And then I got it figured out and I was in (hacker voice). I got my chickens! (two more on the shelf to spare. Oh you poor people who came at 10:30).

I went to the fruit and veg room, where it is very cold. I wanted to get a package of blackberries, because it is a blackberry year. So good! I grabbed one and spun around, ready to zoom away. I stopped and literally just moved my eyes back and forth, like somehow I was going to see behind me, because behind me was what I wanted to see (re-see. Better see). I looked back. $2.57 for 18oz of blackberries. I looked at my berries. They did not look squishy/old. I picked up another and put it in the cart. I picked up two more, because that is almost free (please see bargain getting in paragraph one). I got nectarines (which I LOVE, which bothers Alexander to no end, because I HATE peaches), used my now-functioning app to beep my stuff, and was out of there.

I called Keith from the car. How many blackberries should I get? How many blackberries should I get if they are $2.57? More! I scurried back in and zoomed to the cold room. STOP! An employee lady abruptly halted me because the forklift guy was forklifting. Okay. I stood there. I was steamy. Physically (the cold room was going to be welcome) and emotionally. I wanted to be home because swimmers were coming. I wanted to be home because I was done having this trip not really go my way. I leaned against avocados. I watched the forklift man. My berries were RIGHT by the door.

And then my brain kicked in. There was no need for speed. I could just stand and wait and be nice to forklift man (who was definitely not doing this for the first time). I started really enjoying watching him. I particularly liked when he lifted two palates of apples and put them way up high on a shelf in the cold room. He waved at me at one point and promised, “I’ll be done in two minutes!” I yelled back (I assumed the machine was louder on his end) that I was totally fine and got a great smile in return. He finished and called out for those of waiting to come in. I got two packages of berries, then got two more. This is a ridiculous number of blackberries, but I thought Alexander might want some, and since I waited…

As I came out of the cold room, forklift man was standing there. He waved to me and said, “Thank you so much for not getting mad. A lot of people yell at me.” THAT IS SO SAD! I was frustrated when I had gotten there and had to wait, and I was SO GLAD I got over it before it showed. I can literally not imagine ever yelling at someone doing their job (and doing it well!). C’mon people, do better!! I walked out of there feeling very happy I’d had a nice chat with forklift man and feeling very happy that I was feeling very happy.