Saturday, September 27, 2008

A trip to the grocery and my new BFF

Those of you who know me IRL know that I am completely OCD. OK - maybe not technically. If you want to get down to it, I'm OCPD. I was actually diagnosed with it seven years ago. OCPD and anxiety. I even took meds for a few years and I do believe they helped save my sanity. I can't imagine going through all of that again without the help of a therapist and meds. I am now off all meds (have been for well over a year), and, to be honest, there are times I question that decision, but for the most part, I'm OK with it. A lot of that is due to the help I received from my therapist who, in addition to those meds, gave me some coping mechanisms that I still employ.

For the most part, the way my compulsivity manifests itself is in my need to do things a certain way and my need to be in control. It has taken YEARS for me to allow The Husband and The Children to assist in household chores. That I allow The Children to fold laundry is HUGE! That I don't go back and refold it is even bigger! OK - I *do* refold some stuff...but only my t-shirts!

Another place my compulsivity rears its ugly head is at the grocery store. I am completely OC about the way I unload my groceries onto the conveyor for the cashier. I must do all my frozen foods first, then my refrigerated items, followed by produce, boxed goods, canned goods, and, finally, any non-grocery item. It puts me over the edge when the bagger mixes grocery and non-grocery items. It also pisses me off when perishables are mixed with non-perishables. HELLO! That's *why* I put them out that way...bag them the way they come to you!

Where we live now, the grocery store I like best does not have a conveyor. The cashier simply takes the items from the cart and rings them up. For this reason alone, I usually go to the self-check out. Today, I had a LOT of stuff so I went to a regular cashier. She and the bagger at her aisle are my new BFFs! The first thing the bagger said to the cashier was, "Please give me all the boxed items first." I knew this was a good sign. The cashier stopped in her tracks and said "Um...how about round stuff first?" The bagger said that was fine as long as she kept things together.

OMG! Was this check-out heaven? I could not believe my ears. I then proceeded to have a lengthy conversation with these two girls about how I like my groceries bagged and the girl bagging was nodding and agreeing the whole way. She was FABULOUS. When I told her it was not necessary to bag my gallons of milk, I thought she'd do a flip out of excitement. I *HATE* when the baggers waste the space in my reusable bags for gallons of milk...especially when I buy 3 to 4 gallons at a time! Once, a bagger put two gallons of milk in a bag and that was all...HUGE waste of my bag!

When it was all said and done, ALL my groceries fit into my four reusable bags and there was only ONE extra bag. She did not bag my milk or orange juice, nor did she bag my bags of apples and potatoes (again, completely unnecessary).

You can believe next grocery trip I am SO looking for those girls again!

7 comments:

  1. OMG - i can SO relate to today's blog! i thought i was th eonly one that got worked up about baggers. why do they have to throw stuff into my nice four-sided stand-up bag? do they not understand if they put the boxes in 'squared' that they'll fit more? i find myself leaving the grocer often refusing assistance to my car because i'm so mad at the bagger i might trip them out in the lot! okay, i wouldn't ACTUALLY do that, but on the inside i'd smile if they tripped a little! thanks for making me welcome :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maybe I have a few OCD tendencies. I've never really thought about it because I don't get too worked up if things don't go my way.
    I do unload my cart a certain way and the folding thing gets to me. I have a thing about towels.
    I also like all of the cans, boxes,etc around the house to be facing front so you can read the labels.
    Maybe I do need medication after all.
    BTW, were you at L*w*s? They are really good there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG you found 'Wouldnt It Be Good'??? I got happy when I heard that song start :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!!! I have been known to walk away from the checkout, sit on the bench along the wall and unpack all of the groceries onto the floor and then repack them *properly*. I was waaaayy excited a few weeks back when I found a checkout operator at my grocery store who packed properly and didn't put the bread on the bottom of the bag....seriously, what is wrong with those people?????

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is so nice to know that I am not the only one! This post sounds exactly like me ~ so refreshing!

    By the way ~ LOVE OMD! Great play list.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your post certainly made me laugh as I can totally relate! But what you describe at the check-out is certainly not OCD for me, it's called "common sense"!!!! ;-)
    In France noboby bags your groceries and I like it just like that because I can then bag the way I want!! I have my way of putting things on the conveyor belt too, I suspect (hope?) everyone does! I start with heavy stuff like bottles because it makes sense to me to have them at the bottom of the shopping cart (and not over my eggs!). I always group cold (refrigerated) items together and of course also frozen stuff together (that I pack in several knotted bags so they stay cooler and I spot them right away when I unload!). And I usually finish with the produce so that they can weigh everything at the same time and it isn't squashed at the bottom of the bags...
    It does irk me big time when the bagger just throw everything together at random !! :-(
    I hope you are reassured that you're not the only one like that, LOL! ;-)

    And since I'm here today, just wanted to wish you L'SHANAH TOVAH! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Here's a tip from back in my cashiering days: never go to a guy cashier/bagger. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but by and large they could care less about the way they bag their groceries.

    I do try to sort things on the belt the way I want them to be bagged. I know how much goes in a bag from personal experience, and that's how I want it done! It's going to take a bit of a mental shift now that I'm mainly using reusable bags.

    Thanks for stopping by my site for SITS and leaving all the comments!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments; however, this is NOT the place to promote your blog or website. If you do, be aware your comment will be deleted. Please be respectful and use this space to for what it is intended.

Thanks!