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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy Weekly Supermarket Trip Was Not Like the Last One
I live in St. Paul, MN, as many of you know. The supermarket I shop at is located in a suburb just north of St. Paul. It is the closest Cub supermarket to my house.
To get there, I drive past a large Target store. Today, that store is boarded up and the street entrances to the parking lot are blocked off. My Cub store was open, but has plywood attached to the doors and is shutting down at 7 PM.
Unlike my last three weekly visits, today found the parking lot full of cars. Inside, long lines were already backed up to get to the checkout aisles. I thought about skipping my visit, but that situation will not improve anytime today, so I did my week's shopping, wearing a mask and doing my best to avoid close encounters with other shoppers.
I have never seen the store that crowded at any time - not even on the day before Thanksgiving. After finishing putting everything on my list in the shopping cart, I joined the line. There were two. One led to the self-check lines. The other led to the four checkout aisles that were being operated by store employees. Both lines extended to the far interior wall of the supermarket. I estimate there were 40 people waiting in each line.
I chose the employee-served line, because I have seen what happens when people who are unfamiliar with the self-check units get to them with a full cart of groceries. It is not a pretty scene. I was right to do so, since by the time my line reached that area, all four self-check stations were out of order with a Cub employee trying to correct the problems.
Anyhow, everyone was patient, except for a couple of people who attempted to jump the line for the checkout aisles. Those people were advised about where the end of the line was by someone other than myself. They were not amused.
Why was the store so crowded? The looting and rioting that has been taking place now for 4 days in the Twin Cities is the reason. Many Cub stores are locked up. My Cub foods is distant from the problem, and remains open, although I can't say for how long. People need food. They are going to the stores that remain open.
The sanitation procedures are still in place, which slows down the checkout lines, and people were patient, even though they were also frustrated. I kept it in mind that some Cub food stores have been looted or burned. It is my good fortune that the one closest to me has not had that happen. I can be patient. I must be patient.
Pantagruel
(2,580 posts)on the Police up there. Unusual we get an on the scene report from someone we trust. What's the problem with these guys?
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)Like all police departments, the ones here have a full range of people working for them, including some who are racist assholes.
Since I'm an old, privileged, white man, my encounters with the police have been just fine. I can't speak for anyone else, though. Clearly, there are some bad actors on both the St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments. I don't know any police officers personally, so i have no idea how many bad actors there are, nor the proportion of them.
My experiences are what they are. I can't speak for anyone else's experiences.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)They have had a culture of racism for decades, since at least the '70s when the racist mayor, Charlie Stenvig, gave the police license to pick on black people under the guise of maintaining law and order. Stenvig was a former cop and had been the president of the police union before he was elected mayor. I knew some cops from MPD - 3rd precinct, actually - in the late '80s and early '90s (friends of friends through my work), and they were unabashed racists who bragged about beating up suspects, not just black people but Asians (Hmong and Vietnamese). One of them commented that there were only two classes of people: cops and assholes. I think this attitude persists, and is aided and abetted by the current police union president, ardent Trump supporter Bob Kroll. Getting rid of Kroll would be a huge step in the right direction.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)but the nearby groceries stores are OK. I'll be able to get food, but maybe not mail.
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)Scary!
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)It is peaceful and quiet in the small southern town where I am currently sheltering. I dread seeing what will happen around the US tonight. I hope you and yours stay safe.
Swede
(33,282 posts)What a world we live in now.
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)It starts with Donald J. Trump. His election was the first chapter of this novel.
Igel
(35,356 posts)Which might get people to listen. To change. To comply.
That's very often why fear and terror--threats--are made in the first place. Unless you comply, you will have no peace.
If there's a spike in cases in a week or so in the cities involved, it'll show what "justice" must be.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)Please consider using them if you can. Not only are the customers self select cautious people, but at the beginning of the day the store is cleanest. Wipe down your groceries when you get home, or leave them alone for 24 hours.
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)thinly populated. I did go during senior hour once, and found it to be more dangerous than a bit later in the morning. Too many maskless old people around during the senior hour. I'm 74 years old, and take good precautions.
I'm not that concerned about shopping, frankly. I go once a week.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)... they're large and often it's easy to pass people quickly. But my daughter-in-law, a physician in an ICU with lots of COVID patients, reported one 23 year old male they had where the best guess for catching it was Stop and Shop.
Pantagruel
(2,580 posts)are great. I get there at 7:00 a.m. sharp, never had to wait in line to enter, only 1-2 people in front of me in check out line EVER.
Downside, store is usually still being re-stocked. Not all items available at that time.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)before I retired, I definitely am not getting up a 5 AM to go grocery shopping. I normally go during the week between 8:30 and 9:30 AM, not Senior Hours.
The past 2 weeks there has been no outside line at Walmart at all. Walked right inside. Customers, and employees, were wearing masks, but totally ignoring those one way aisles. I also go to Shop Rite which does not limit number of customers at a time.
Went there this morning at 9:30 for few items I forgot. Parking lot was packed. The store wasn't. Here in my PA County the State Run Wine and Spirits Store next to supermarket just reopened. I saw people with carts full of cases of Liquor! Seems more people were buying booze than groceries.