Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    Yeah.  
    
    I noticed that Super whatever-it-is (Shaws?  Stop & Shop?) near HLO has
    Diet Food and Candy on the same side of the same aisle.  What are they
    - STUPID?  And they don't even have an Xpress-24 machine......
    
    I also noticed that they can hide rice cakes either in diet food,
    international food, chips and snacks, or the new "health food"
    section.  But invariably it's unstandardized among markets.  
    
    And black olives are either in with the marinated mushrooms (far from
    the normal vegetables - they throw them in with international foods),
    but green olives are over with the pickles most of the time.
    
    And are Marshmallows candy or something to cook with?  Same with
    caramels.....
    
    Progresso soup is up to $1.39 a can....I don't even want to TALK about
    the price of lamb....and you can never seem to find RIPE fruit at the
    market anymore.
    
    jeez - bitch and moan why don't I????!!!!
    
    -Jody
    

    Ahah, another of my favorite subjects.  Once upon a time I had a
    [nonmilitary] job where I got paid once a month.  We went grocery
    shopping at a Price Chopper discount place.  Groceries were
    $100/yd if you measured the register tape.  Now because so many tapes
    have extra information on them -- like a line that says 1 @ 2/99
    ahead of the price of the item, register tapes haven't kept up with
    inflation.  Groceries are about $200/yd.
    
    Unit pricing ranges between 'stupid and dumb' and 'sly and clever'
    but since most of the clients don't understand numbers (and, no, I'm
    not being sexist, John Doe does not understand numbers either).
    Shaw's had a 5 lb bag of flour that the tag said was something like
    $8/lb.  It was off by a factor of 16 because someone had apparently
    keyed in 5 ounces instead of 5 lb.  I wrote them a "we want to know"
    note but they didn't do anything about it.
    
    The help at Purity Supreme still smokes in the produce area and
    behind the fish counter and in the meat room.  (Nashua)
    
    Then there are all the products where the biggest package has a higher
    unit price than most of the smaller ones because they know they'll
    catch everyone who just assumes the bigger package is the better deal.
    
    Then there are the bottles of olive oil with a unit price in pints
    next to the ones with a price in fluid ounces next to the ones unit
    priced by the gallon or [worse] pound.
    
    And you can't convince me that cloves ought to be $3/ounce.
    
    ed

    Lets see here.....Steak, Lamb, Olive Oil, Marinated Mushrooms, Black
    Olives, Candy, Snacks......I call these premium products. And they have
    premium prices that I can either pay or not pay; my choice. What gets in
    my shorts is $1.79 per loaf bread, $1.56 doz. eggs, milk at $2.09 per
    half-gallon etc.   The basic good old staples of the standard American
    diet will cost you an arm and then another arm. Forget about any
    variety in fruit, produce, meats or fish.  I'm just glad I can afford
    it. I can't imagine how a family below the poverty line, or a single
    income can make it. 

    It is just me, or does it really bother anyone else out there when they
    see the signs:
    
    "EXPRESS - 12 items or LESS" ?????
    
    Does no one out there realize it should be "12 items or FEWER"????
    It's not just a simple mistake.....it's in every supermarket in the
    United States!  Am I just being too picky?  (I WAS an English major)
    
    *sigh*
    

    Actually, it should be "12 or fewer items", shouldn't it?

    It's just a case of catering to the perceived literacy level of
    the population. It goes along with "less calories" and other
    grammatical outrages.

 	YES!!!!!

	People steer clear of Gary and I when we shop, because we wander
around muttering "5 items or FEWER, Dammit!"


Tracey

	(re: prices Youch!  You need to move down here (S.C.).  bread = .99 
eggs = .79-.99 (depending on size) a *gallon* on milk is around  2.50.)

Re: .4

	WOW!!!  Another person with my pet peeve!

	I'm always after people about less and fewer...


		... and it pisses me off every time I'm in the supermarket!



						--Doug

Shop at Whole Foods.

	9 items or fewer.

'course this is a yupscale-politically-correct-trendy-natural-food-grocery so
it might not be right for you. I personally have been known to be seen there...

	-- Charles the politically correct yuppie radical

    actually, the real signs should read:
    
    	12 items, or an inability to count what you are buying.
    
    to whoever said the rule is $10/bag....i'll confirm this.
    
    i used to be a clerk in my past life, and i used to do this.
    watched the price on every item, and would aim for the $10 mark.
    of course, when babies were sent through in the carriage seat, 
    i couldn't find a price on them, so i gave them their own bags.
    i don't know why the old people got upset, when they took the
    bag off the baby's head, it would be sitting there looking
    around with eyes filled with wonder.
    
    i used to be a bad influence on the other clerks.  i could throw
    things in the air with one hand and catch them inside the bag
    with the other....a very useful skill when faced with 20+ containers
    of baby food or cat food....but the others couldn't do it, no
    matter how much they tried.
    
    i don't find supermarkets as friendly as they used to be.  might
    be because i am older....but i used to be able to smile and laugh
    and poke fun at the people working, and they would smile and laugh
    with me.  now they just look at me weird. 
    

    re:.9, since we've dived into a grammatical rathole...
    
    "to whoever said the rule is $10/bag....i'll confirm this."
    
    It's "to whomever".  :-P
    
    ed
    
    [I suppose I could have said "we dove" :-)]

    
    And if you ate no meat at all, you could eat very well on even less.
    Good food from scratch does require a considerable amount of time to 
    prepare, though.
    
    CQ

    
    
    
    Hahaha...Jonathan, you're not the only one that can do that.  When I 
    was a service clerk for a grocery store in Sierra Vista (arizona), I
    would toss merchandise from one hand to the other that was sitting
    inside the bag waiting to place the item.  I was one of the fastest
    baggers there and one of the most efficient.  
    
    Then again, I worked with three members of the varsity football team
    and they couldn't seem to do much of any work (including pushing
    carts).
    
    All that and I only made $2.85 an hour. 8-(
    
    kath

    -d, please post recipes.  watering mouths want to know.

    
    Ok.  Here is a funny/sad true story about a cashier in one supermarket-
         This gum-chewing, loud talking, young (maybe 16 or 17) girl was
         ringing up my groceries.  After counting back my change, which
         was automatically totaled and balacned by the computer, I asked
         her for change for a dollar.  She said, "Let's see now, that's
         four quarters, right?"  I almost fell over in shock.  I guess
         calculators have replaced brains now days.
    
         Another true story - I went to Canada this past summer on vacation
         and if anyone thinks they are paying a lot for food here in the 
         good 'ole U.S.A., try shopping in Canada.  I really don't know
         how they manage to eat up there or for that matter, how they
         gas up their cars.   The ten dollar a bag rule certainly doesn't
         apply there.  It's more like $25 or $30 per bag.  A pound of
         butter costs $3.00 and milk is about $3.00 per gallon.  Of course
         everything is measured in liters because they have the metric
         system up there.  So it's rather confusing for someone who does
         not quite know how to make the conversion.  The only good thing
         that I found is that the cashiers and clerks are much more
         friendly and pleasant and helpful than the gum-chewing, loud-
         talking breed that we have here.  I swear, if I hear one more
         story of unrequited love while checking my groceries at the
         cash, I'm going to puke.  'nuf said.
    
         Sue
    
         

    
    
    RE: .16
    
    
    >"Let's see now, that's four quarters, right?"
    
    Or she could have been confirming that you wanted your change in 
    quarters, not nickels/dimes.
    
    
    I used to say things like that to confirm (ie, to be more specific)
    about what it was that they wanted.  And math was one of my strongest
    subjects!  8-)
    
    k

    re.17   No, sadly that wasn't the case.  She simply did not know that
            there are 4 quarters in a dollar.  There was more to the
            conversation that insued after she said "Let's see now,
            that's four quarters, right?"  That's why I was so shocked.
            It just scared the daylights out of me to think that we seem
            to be raising a generation that doesn't even know basic math.
            But of course, this was only a very small example.  I realize
            that.
    
            Sue
    

    	Sue,
    
    	I think you and many of us need to be shocked.
    
    	Years ago, my mother would go on and on about people
    	who could not add their scores at the bowling alley.
    	You know, you have to add:
    
    		strike plus the next two balls
    		spare plus the next ball.
    
    	She said that many of the younger people could not add
    	up the scores.
    
    	Pretty scary, if you ask me.
    
    	Scott

    
    
    RE: .18
    
    It is sad when people can't do basic math.
    
    When I lived in Colorado I tutored a 10th grade algebra class every
    week as a volunteer.  Very few of the students had acceptable basic
    math skills.
    
    Most of them said they did what they could to get by and "pass."
    
    kath

    how about when the bill is 4.92 and you start to hand them 5.02 and
    they see the $5 and key it in so the register tells them you get 8�
    and then you point out that you are also giving them 2� so they don't
    have to give you the pennies and they indicate that, no, that's too
    hard to do, keep the pennies, they'll give you the 8�.
    
    Or, when THEY drop your dime on the conveyor and it gets eaten by the
    conveyor and they insist that you give them another one.
    
    I keep reminding myself:
    
    "The law of conservation of intelligence: the population is expanding."
    
    ed

    My latest supermarket "lite" is that it doesn't matter *which* of the
    local markets I go to, the minute I pull out my check to pay for the
    groceries, the young person either bagging or checking turns to me and
    says 
    
    	"Oh, you must be Dan's mother."
    
    Sometimes I wonder how I wound up the mom of this budding celebrity :-}
    At least I'm getting to know most of the teen-age work force in the
    area.
    
    Alison

    
    The worst example I had was when I was biking cross-country and
    came into Idaho.  I bought 86 cents worth of snacks at a rural town's
    Mom&Pop and handed over $1.01.  The cashier gave me back 14 cents.
    Now, *that's* bad!  Furthermore, when I explained that I needed
    15 cents, not 14 cents, she did it, but it was clear from the puzzled
    look on her face, she didn't understand!
    
    But hey, the base note mentions bags at grocery stores.  I trust
    you all take your reusable, nondisposable, nonpolluting,
    environmentally-safe bags *with* you to the grocery store every time
    you go, instead of taking one of the polluter (paper *or* plastic -
    they're both bad).  Oh sorry, I *knew* you all were good do-bes!  Yeah!!
    

    re: food from scratch......
    
    I happen to be one of those who prefers to start from scratch, but I
    often don't have an hour a day to prepare food as I'm in and out quite
    quickly.....
    
    solution is to make a humongous batch of whatever and then just keep
    popping the leftovers in the microwave.  The easiest way to get by on a
    limited budget is just not to eat as much.  =)
    
    There is a book, somewhat old (1950ish) that has a chapter on
    supermarket studies.   Some interesting things to be on the lookout
    for....notice the placement of the items on the shelves, high profit
    items are at eye level, sugary things are within kids reach, and
    generic stuff is usually at the way bottom.   Also, those little
    "kiddie carts" that are seen at the supermarkets have one purpose, so
    that kids will throw all sorts of stuff in them and the parent will end
    up buying more.
    
    Lisa

    re .22 Yeah, Ralph!
    
    Let me tell you about tough grocery shopping...I live in NEW YORK!  The
    prices are outrageous, (last trip $30 bag) and then I have to leave my
    cart outside the doors - nowhere NEAR my car -tell the begging people I
    DON'T need help carrying my stuff, then run like mad to my car, drive
    like a maniac back to my bags (prayin no one has touched them) and load
    them myself.  
    
    Along those line, my boyfriend recently got transferred to Kansas
    City..(Overland Park).  I visited him a month ago...he said "Lis - I'm
    going to take you to the Bloomie's [Bloomingdale's] of grocery
    shopping!"  We proceed to a market that has EVERYTHING.. the prices wer
    higher than most (IN KANSAS...TONS lower than NYC) but when you paid,
    they took a "ticket" off your cart and took it away. You got in your
    car, drove over to "pickup", where they loaded the correctly "ticketed"
    cart of groceries into your car..."NO TIPPING, PLEASE"!!!!!!!
    
    
    I almost decided to join Toto..............
    

    re: .21:  Oh, alright.  %-}
    
    re: .25:  The other thing about supermarket placement is to
    make sure the purchaser of even a minimal average bag must
    walk past the most items and therefore be tempted to buy stuff
    they didn't need.
    
    Having a maze to get through produce at the entrance is quite
    deliberate.
    
    ed

	-d -- do you cater?

				--D

    The scariest supermarket I was ever in was the Military Commissary in
    Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.  This is where the military prison is.  Guess
    what the felons on good behaviour got to do.  You got it, bag
    groceries.  After you paid for your food, your groceries were loaded
    into a cart, with a number.  Then you drove through a drive-in window
    type deal, where a convict would load them into your car.  Some guy
    with a shotgun sat in this little toll booth thingy, making sure noone
    had themselves hijacked....
    
    Very scary to a 8 year old!!!