Each day is unique. Each moment is, in some beautiful subtle way, different from every other. The truth is, contrary to the saying, that each new day, there is everything new under the sun. As creatives, our job is to notice it.
Wonderful essay. I think the British "trolley" is roundly charming vs. the sharp-edged American "shopping cart."
Your quote below answers the question posed in your footnote. If there's to be a collision between two vehicles, you want to be in a tank.
"Do they give any thought to the carnage they could wreak if they had a stroke or a heart attack behind the wheel of one of these behemoths versus in one of the aforementioned little runarounds that have evidently fallen out of vogue5?"
Hello Thomas, enjoyed the attention rousing essay. A few notes:
1. I have had on many a day the same foreboding of being on autopilot. To bolster myself to action, I often self query, " If there had been a crime at the place I was just at, and the police asked me about the scene or things I noticed, could I tell them anything?" This newfound thrust of attention can often lead to new stories. To wit, I once noted a man walking down a country road as I hurriedly was driving . He was ambling with a trenchcoat in 90 degree southeastern US heat and humdity. A call to the local cops quickly brought the emergency dispatch comment of "Thanks, that guy just escaped out of so and so institution with a machete...." True story. No I did not stop. But I did keep paying attention.
2. The last paragraph about the human cashier and saying everything but nothing at all is a soul bolstering interaction. Bravo to acknowledging the human condition even in these high inflation times where to paraphrase Twain, " Figures do not lie, but liars do figure..."
3. On footnote 5 I consider an unseen environmental scourge being mainly how now, with a phone to occupy them, so many more people are content to not venture out while someone else runs an errand and then sits in the parking lot with the car running and its AC/heater running depending on the season, just to let them scroll on the phone. 10, 20, 30 minutes this tomfoolery runs on. No matter what you think of climate change, this is a pure and insensible waste, but it is growing exponentially.
4. Kudos for eschewing the imported apple varieties. Make no mistake, there is a huge and human imploding ecological cost to "having no seasonality" to your food. I suspect there is an unknown health cost too. Keep writing, and paying attention. It costs nothing yet is all profit.
Thanks for the fantasy comment Worth. It’s great to see someone else ‘get it’- which means we are both either right or are the exact same flavour of wrong! That Twain quote especially is fantastic and I will be stealing it, although there are a ton of gems scattered throughout this great post, so thank you again.
I moved from suburbia to a place more rural recently, but the Walmart two towns over serves a wide area, and consequently it's more crowded than any of the six (plus Targets, Krogers, Natural Grocers, a Tom Thumb...) in my previous city. I don't think the aisle traffic would be so deadly if people didn't still shop on autopilot though, carts jutting at odd angles and no semblance of "pass left, keep right" to be found. Sure keeps me alert.
For kicks, I like to note any surprising prices, ridiculous ingredients, and what's out of stock as I go. Read every protein shake and powder in the pharmacy section and try not to lament the ubiquity of sucralose and Ace-K...
The only drivable alternatives to this mess are dollar stores. I can't tell whether the cashiers greet you with "Welcome to Dollar Tree Plus!" because they offer $4-5 food in the frozen section now or because of inflation, but hey, at least the cashiers greet you.
This was a fun read, Tom. Props for inspecting the floor tiles!
Glad you enjoyed it, David. Yeah ‘find the protein shake without artificial sugar’ sounds like a difficult game. Similar to ‘does it have high fructose corn syrup’ which is another fun game to play.
Well this is a brilliant essay born of not paying attention and then paying attention in a supermarket. However, I love supermarket shopping because it's an opportunity to go around on autopilot and construct an article in my head whilst doing so. In fact, the only time I end up paying attention is when they've moved everything around so that it's impossible to find anything. (I wrote about this if you're interested: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/a-moving-experience).
I also shop at Waitrose, and Sainsbury's, and they both have one thing in common which is that they are some sort of Faraday cage or something, because it's impossible to get a phone signal in them. Bliss! No phone calls or texts and, with a bit of luck, nobody I know either.
So from my point of view, even though I loved your article and you have shown me the benefits of being present while shopping, I intend to continue shopping on autopilot for the foreseeable future!
They do have away of completely switching the layout on the fly, don’t they. And the Farady cage observation is interesting, makes me like supermarkets more tbh. Maybe they are on our side a little more than I thought!
Each day is unique. Each moment is, in some beautiful subtle way, different from every other. The truth is, contrary to the saying, that each new day, there is everything new under the sun. As creatives, our job is to notice it.
Perfectly said.
Of course. I'm a writer. 😂
#mindset
Wonderful essay. I think the British "trolley" is roundly charming vs. the sharp-edged American "shopping cart."
Your quote below answers the question posed in your footnote. If there's to be a collision between two vehicles, you want to be in a tank.
"Do they give any thought to the carnage they could wreak if they had a stroke or a heart attack behind the wheel of one of these behemoths versus in one of the aforementioned little runarounds that have evidently fallen out of vogue5?"
Hello Thomas, enjoyed the attention rousing essay. A few notes:
1. I have had on many a day the same foreboding of being on autopilot. To bolster myself to action, I often self query, " If there had been a crime at the place I was just at, and the police asked me about the scene or things I noticed, could I tell them anything?" This newfound thrust of attention can often lead to new stories. To wit, I once noted a man walking down a country road as I hurriedly was driving . He was ambling with a trenchcoat in 90 degree southeastern US heat and humdity. A call to the local cops quickly brought the emergency dispatch comment of "Thanks, that guy just escaped out of so and so institution with a machete...." True story. No I did not stop. But I did keep paying attention.
2. The last paragraph about the human cashier and saying everything but nothing at all is a soul bolstering interaction. Bravo to acknowledging the human condition even in these high inflation times where to paraphrase Twain, " Figures do not lie, but liars do figure..."
3. On footnote 5 I consider an unseen environmental scourge being mainly how now, with a phone to occupy them, so many more people are content to not venture out while someone else runs an errand and then sits in the parking lot with the car running and its AC/heater running depending on the season, just to let them scroll on the phone. 10, 20, 30 minutes this tomfoolery runs on. No matter what you think of climate change, this is a pure and insensible waste, but it is growing exponentially.
4. Kudos for eschewing the imported apple varieties. Make no mistake, there is a huge and human imploding ecological cost to "having no seasonality" to your food. I suspect there is an unknown health cost too. Keep writing, and paying attention. It costs nothing yet is all profit.
Thanks for the fantasy comment Worth. It’s great to see someone else ‘get it’- which means we are both either right or are the exact same flavour of wrong! That Twain quote especially is fantastic and I will be stealing it, although there are a ton of gems scattered throughout this great post, so thank you again.
I moved from suburbia to a place more rural recently, but the Walmart two towns over serves a wide area, and consequently it's more crowded than any of the six (plus Targets, Krogers, Natural Grocers, a Tom Thumb...) in my previous city. I don't think the aisle traffic would be so deadly if people didn't still shop on autopilot though, carts jutting at odd angles and no semblance of "pass left, keep right" to be found. Sure keeps me alert.
For kicks, I like to note any surprising prices, ridiculous ingredients, and what's out of stock as I go. Read every protein shake and powder in the pharmacy section and try not to lament the ubiquity of sucralose and Ace-K...
The only drivable alternatives to this mess are dollar stores. I can't tell whether the cashiers greet you with "Welcome to Dollar Tree Plus!" because they offer $4-5 food in the frozen section now or because of inflation, but hey, at least the cashiers greet you.
This was a fun read, Tom. Props for inspecting the floor tiles!
Glad you enjoyed it, David. Yeah ‘find the protein shake without artificial sugar’ sounds like a difficult game. Similar to ‘does it have high fructose corn syrup’ which is another fun game to play.
Well this is a brilliant essay born of not paying attention and then paying attention in a supermarket. However, I love supermarket shopping because it's an opportunity to go around on autopilot and construct an article in my head whilst doing so. In fact, the only time I end up paying attention is when they've moved everything around so that it's impossible to find anything. (I wrote about this if you're interested: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/a-moving-experience).
I also shop at Waitrose, and Sainsbury's, and they both have one thing in common which is that they are some sort of Faraday cage or something, because it's impossible to get a phone signal in them. Bliss! No phone calls or texts and, with a bit of luck, nobody I know either.
So from my point of view, even though I loved your article and you have shown me the benefits of being present while shopping, I intend to continue shopping on autopilot for the foreseeable future!
They do have away of completely switching the layout on the fly, don’t they. And the Farady cage observation is interesting, makes me like supermarkets more tbh. Maybe they are on our side a little more than I thought!
😁