My Trips to the Store

My trips to my local HEB are usually routine and prosaic. I mean how exciting can grocery shopping be? Well, today it proved a tad eventful while picking up some cans of soup, bread, tuna---the usual prosaic items. However I noticed this sale of 6-pack, bottled Snapple on display. Something that my HEB doesn't carry every day. But what really stood out was the buy-two-get-two-dollars-off coupon. Hmm, well I really love peach Snapple, and since I've cut out sodas, I intended to snag a pair. Problem was that intention was on Sunday. And so today while picking up the cans of soup, bread, tuna---the usual prosaic items, I noticed that enticing display of Snapple was gone. That’s when I did something I don't normally do at a grocery store: I persisted. Which is where my adventure began.

Persisting, I stopped and asked a clerk if they still had any Snapple left. He didn't know, but he kindly checked with a manager. Between them they confirmed what I already knew: there wasn’t any Snapple to be found on display. But the manager had someone check in back. Sure enough he found some. Hurray! But I couldn't take any right then because I can only carry so many cans of soup, bread, tuna and the usual prosaic items home. (That's the truly wonderful benefit of having a car---a benefit I no longer possess.) So I said I would be back in half an hour to get them, which was fine with them. So I checked out my cans of soup, bread, tuna and the usual prosaic items and lugged my bags home. Then I returned to the store (I live only .7 of a mile away; a fortunate benefit when one no longer owns a car), and snagged my pair of peach Snapple using my $2 off coupon. However I wanted to get FOUR packs of Snapple (I couldn't be sure when the next time my HEB would have them in stock, let alone on sale---a suspicion I felt confirmed by their removal from display). This meant I would have to return AGAIN for the next pair. But as it turned out, I didn't have a coupon for another pair. Not deterred, I once more persisted: I asked if they had any coupons left. Upon which the guy who fetched my Snapple told me I could get one at check-out from the cashier. The cashier however told me she didn't have any, but she called another employee over. That employee said she could print one, but it would "take a minute". Ten minutes later a manager came out with enough coupons for every customer in the store. Somehow he had gotten the impression I wanted to buy the whole pallet. Wow, who knew managers possessed mental powers of mind-reading. But sensibly I recognized that my insatiable desire for Snapple was greater than my pocketbook allowed. So I settled on the one coupon. That mission now accomplished, I lugged my bottled prize, one in each arm, home. Then I returned once more to my HEB (third trip in case you were getting lost), and snagged my SECOND pair of 6-pack, bottled Snapple. (Kudos to the guy in dreadlocks---he actually made them look good---who went back into the bowels of the store THREE times: first to confirm that yes, they still had some left; and twice to fetch me some. He even gave me another coupon...Huh, wish he would've given me that earlier; I wouldn't have had to wait ten minutes while a manager printed like a gazillion of them for me on my previous trip.) Nevertheless, thankful for the extra $2 coupon (this time I decided I would save it for another day), I checked out of the store, lugging my second and final pair of Snapple home one last time.

In retrospect I figure I walked nearly four and a half miles over three trips (two and a quarter of which involved lugging sacks of prosaic groceries and multiple bottles of peach Snapple), received assistance from half a dozen people, and walked away with a more than average memorable story for what started out as an ordinary trip to the store.