Tuesday, December 5, 2023

The Trap Was Set

What kind of elderlies-hater is employed by Save A Lot??? Certainly not a compassionate elderlies-hater, who wants to make it easy for them to keep their cholesterol low by consuming whole-grain breakfast cereal. This elderlies-hating shelf-stocker had set a trap!


I am exhausted from harvesting my whole grains. Such hoops I jumped through, just to get a box of cereal without sustaining a concussion, or gouging out an eye! There were THREE boxes of cereal stacked on top before I MacGyvered one into my cart. No thanks to some vertically-gifted freak who set this trap.

Val is 5'8" tall. No shrimp in the height department. My fake Honey Nut Cheerios, the Honey Nut Rollin' Oats, were on the top shelf. The boxes were packed full of boxes of cereal. With those three lying on top, with the front edge even with the other boxes.

I can reach the top of a cereal box with my fingertips. Even get a grip on one. But I can't lift it out of the big box! When some cereals have already been taken, I can finagle a box sideways, tilt it, and pull it out the front. Now this time, there were loose cereals to contend with on top. 

By poking the bottom of the stack with my fingertips, I edged the stack out over the front. Here's where I had to be careful, lest I set off an avalanche that would send those three boxes down to pummel me about the head and shoulders. I ever-so-gently tilted the front of the stack down, while putting up my other hand to catch the top one when it slid off, and re-horizontalize the remaining two. I left them sticking over the edge, in case some other brave elderlies wished to take their chances.

Buying a box of cereal should not be a full-contact sport, nor a puzzle-solving challenge.

8 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh Val, I am much shorter than you so you can imagine the stretching I've had to do to get certain grocery items:) Good for you in figuring out how to get your box of cereal.

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    1. Sorry, you would have had to do without these tasty fake Honey Nut Cheerios! If not for the "trappy" three boxes on top, so would I. I would not have been able to remove a single box from the packing box.

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  2. Being only five feet tall myself, I would have had to go in search of a stock boy to get one down for me, unless there was a tall customer in the same aisle, then I would ask him or her if they could get one for me.

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    1. Tall person at your service, Ma'am. Now could you please ask The Guy lurking around the Little Debbie display, drinking out of a Red Bull he left sitting on the shelf next to a rag, if he really works here, and if so, why he isn't wearing the standard red vest?

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  3. I am 5' 7.5" tall. I have been able to get things like that by stretching. Of course, all the shorties ask me to get them one, too. Since I have torn both rotator cuffs, stretching is not easy anymore.

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    1. At least my shoulders work better than my knees! I wouldn't mind helping a shorty, because shorties have helped me by picking up a penny without me asking.

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  4. I will look for something to knock he merchandise to a lower shelf .... or the floor. Easier to find than a person to help.

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    1. I imagine that such tactics would also discourage weirdos from approaching you...

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