Two Hours, Twelve Items.

This is an actual photo I took in the Market Basket today. I know, everyone is tired of me ranting about the Market Basket, but today was different.

A snow emergency was declared for today at 3:00 pm. Apparently all that means is "move your car." It does not, contrary to what you may think, mean that there is actually any kind of emergency.

I needed some cereal and some beef stew (current obsession), so I decided to pop on down to the MB. It was a nice walk, as always, as it is completely down hill. When I got about halfway down the hill, I noticed cars were backed up all the way from the stop sign. That could only mean one thing -- the Market Basket is causing a traffic jam. Again.

I got down to the corner, and heard honking, name calling, everything you could imagine. The two lane street was four lanes now, as people were stopped trying to get into the parking lot, and other people were desperately trying to get around them.

EVERYONE should know not to use Somerville Avenue on a Saturday, so I didn't feel sorry for them.

I got inside, and there were no carts. I waited about 15 minutes for someone to give one up. I started shopping, and people were being SO rude. I would pull over to get something off the shelf, and then no one would let me back in the moving lane. They were telling me, "Uh uh! I don't think so!" And shaking their heads.

The lines were absolutely ridiculous. They stretched all the way from the registers, across the walkway, down the aisles, all the way to the back of the store. Each line was over 25 carts deep.

Now imagine this, carts are lined up down the aisles. What does that mean? No one can get anything off the shelves. So I am waiting there to check out, and all these nasty people are screaming at me to move my cart so they can get their Domino Sugar. Only I can't move -- one person in front of me, one person behind me.

So for about 30 minutes, I just took orders. What do you want? Let me get that for you. Oh you want the "just add water" brownie mix? Let me see what I can do.

While I was waiting, a voice suddenly came over the loud speakers. "Ok everyone, there is NO need to panic! We have plenty of food for everyone! We are not going to run out of food! The store will be open tomorrow! Stop fighting! Stop pushing! There is no need to panic! Be nice to your fellow shoppers! Make room! I SAID stop fighting! There is plenty for everyone!"

Uhh...what?

As I got closer to the front, I saw the cops were here. The real cops, not rent-a-cops. They were literally there for "cart control." I got to the front of the aisle, and needed to walk across the open space to get to the register. Apparently the cops didn't want this space blocked, so one of them came up to me and said, "Ma'am, please do not advance your cart. Please stay there, remember who is in front of you, and cross when you can. Please don't block this area." He was very polite, and kind of cute.

So I waited. I was freaking out because there was about two cart spaces empty in between me and the person in front of me. I KNEW someone was going to swoop and swipe.

And sure enough, a little boy, maybe 10, swooped and swiped. The cop told him, "Hey, the line starts WAY back there, you can't cut in here."

Whew!

So then finally there was room, and I advanced across the way to the register. Immediately this guy and his wife tapped me on the back:



"You can't go there! The line starts WAY down there! All those people are ahead of you! That is the line back there!"

I said, really nastily, "Yeah, I know. I just waited in it for over 30 minutes." And didn't move. That did not make those two people very happy, but oh well.

So all this drama, just for $35 worth of groceries -- 8 cans of beef stew, two boxes of cereal, soy milk, and some cheese for crackers.

Two hours.

Twelve items.