ANDRE BEGIN

One of the greatest benefits of being retired is being able to pick and choose the times when I run errands. As a morning person, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to see me in the grocery store not long after the doors open. Also, to make the best use of my time and energy, I will usually re-write the grocery list according to the store’s floor plan to ensure I only visit each aisle once.

Frankly, I don’t like lingering in grocery stores longer than I have to. I just don’t fare well in busy stores like I used to. Once upon a time, in my much younger years, being in a busy crowd felt energizing, sometimes even exhilarating, in ways that appealed to this borderline extrovert who enjoyed being around people.

However, forty years later, it’s a very different story. I like my personal space, I prefer to be around calm people and I don’t like to be rushed to the point of my senses being hyper-focused on personal safety to the detriment of actually picking the right products off the shelf.

For example, this past Easter, we ran short on a few items. Perhaps I was out of practice, but I did not remember how busy grocery stores can get on a weekend when there are two statutory holidays. Big mistake on my part and a big lesson re-learned.

I knew I was in trouble the minute I pulled into the grocery store parking lot. While I don’t usually shy away from choosing a parking spot that allows me to get a few additional steps in, this time, I had no choice but to leave my car on the very outer perimeter of the lot.

Before stepping out of the car, I reviewed my list one more time, wondering if these items were absolutely essential for this weekend. Unfortunately, they were, as some were part of the Easter dinner. I couldn’t back out now.

The second clue that this venture would be busier than usual was the sight of the grocery cart corrals that were overflowing. I presumed that this meant that the staff was pretty busy inside and that retrieving their buggies was a lower priority. That being the case, I helped myself to one as I continued the long walk to the store.

It was only a few minutes into my errand that I remembered why I never shopped when stores were crowded. Some shoppers are horrible and seem to forget that the store isn’t just for them.

Some have zero spatial awareness, some drive their buggies like they need anger management training, and some seem to view shopping as social time, carrying on lengthy conversations about matters unrelated to groceries while creating massive traffic jams. On this visit, I had only reached aisle four and already experienced all three.

As my pulse started to race through fight or flight mode, I could feel my blood pressure rising.

At one point, to avoid running the mammoth buggy through the heavily congested aisles, I parked it behind a larger-than-life cut-out of the Easter bunny and ran through the aisles on foot to grab the items I needed then ran back to my cart and tossed them in like I was on a game show. When I had found all of the items on my list, it was time to check out.

I was no stranger to the self-checkout terminal, however, when it was my turn, the one that became available seemed ultra-sensitive and overreacted to everything I was doing. It beeped every few scans, alerting the supervisor to come and assist.

“I think it’s being a little temperamental,” I said to the supervisor.

“On busy days, it tends to be like that,” she replied. I was glad to hear that it wasn’t just me that felt frazzled with the crowd.

Fortunately, I scratched all of the items on my grocery list without getting too badly bumped or bruised and still maintained most of my sanity. However, this was only the first stop.

The second grocery store is usually my backup, where I pick up the items I didn’t find in the first store, which usually means a shorter list. But given its larger floor plan, one still needs to be physically and mentally prepared to get their steps in and hypervigilant to dodge more shoppers, seemingly lost in their own world.

Doing groceries on a weekend with two holidays is a test of one’s courage and resilience when one isn’t a fan of crowds.

That being the case, I made an indelible mental note to ensure that when approaching Easter, groceries are to be done a few days prior, to not put myself in this position again. If it’s going to drain the energy I need for Easter dinner, why subject oneself to the pressure cooker of shopping in crowded stores?

Fortunately, the following weekend, all was right with the universe. Not only could I take the errands in stride at a leisurely pace, there was also time to browse, time to look for deals and most of all, time to feel a sense of satisfaction for crossing all the items off my list while maintaining my energy and my cool.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André