We went grocery shopping, at a supermarket I'd never shopped at before. I was rather discombobulated as I wandered the aisles, trying to find where they put everything I'd normally buy. I was also sad to see that many of my favorite food items weren't carried by this chain.
The most perplexing part of my alien grocery store visit, however, came when I got to the checkout aisle. Like every other grocery store in the country, this chain carries "club cards." Since I've never shopped there, I didn't have one, naturally, and I wasn't particularly interested in getting one. The man, a 50-year-old who looked quite managerial, asked me if I had a card. When I responded that I didn't have one, he asked me if I lived in town.
"Yes, I do, but I've never shopped here before."
The man made a face that said "This will never do," as if he'd be unable to run my pierogies and canned olives over the scanner without that holy card. He produced a bright yellow card and a pink and white application sheet. I filled it out while he passed my boxes, cans and bottles along the conveyor belt.
Strangely enough, he didn't demand to see an ID for the Mudslides I'd bought. Given that I've been carded for matches at a convenience store once, I found this rather strange. Meanwhile, I was still trying to write letters and numerals into the tidy stalls on the application form, wondering what people in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico do (on forms with a specified number of letter spaces for a city name, I will compulsively count to see if it will accomodate "Truth or Consequences"). As I reached the conclusion that they probably just write in "T or C," the teenage boy bagging my groceries began asking me questions about my alcohol purchase. Thinking that he was probably trying to nudge his way into an invitation to come drink with me, I answered with distracted yeahs and nahs.
When Jennie went to pay for her groceries, the man at the cash register told me to let her use my card. I have reached the conclusion that he's the head manager of this particular store and must receive benefits from the parent corporation whenever he and his employees foist more club cards on people.