Speaking Out on Nate

Walking through the grocery store, eyes open for old people trying to crash into us, young people trying to crash into us and of course food that we went there for in the first place.  Navigating around the grocery section of the local Meijers can be a major pain the arse.  Nobody seems to pay attention to what they are doing, well most people.  There was a gentleman who upon seeing that the aisle was taken up by a woman only concerned with the proper sized cucumber (I’m sure there is a dirty limerick or blog in there) moved his cart out of the way so we and others could get through.

The funniest thing we got to witness was an overweight woman on her cell phone riding one of the motorized carts.  She was so concerned with her phone call that she backed into a display that she had just parked next to.  So kids, don’t text and drive cars and most definitely don’t be on the phone when you are driving your motorized cart around the store.  Where was the police?

Since college is soon to be in session the kids are starting to show up at the store.  A lot can be learned by watching them shop.  If they are on their own for the first time the cart is filled with a loaf of bread, frozen food (not that they can cook that in the dorm room), chips, snacks and BEER.  Lots of beer.  Given the quality of the student that they allow in here (the graduation here is roughly 56 to 60% at most, which is much better than the 28% rate from 2002) a cart full of beer and bread says, “Going to do well.”

The kids shopping with their parents are priceless, they follow along moping or trying to look independent while their parents hold up shirts in front of them and fill up the shopping cart with anything and everything that they can think of, except BEER.  We watched as one sullen young man trailed behind his very proud parents (apparently they don’t know about the graduation rate here either), who were pushing a cart overloaded with enough food to feed a family of four that has access to a full kitchen.  Hopefully that ham will fit in the microwave.

Then there are the kids who are moving in together.  They show up in groups of two to four.  One might have a list, no one thinks to get a cart.  They are move through the store talking on their phones, texting, making asses of themselves and best of all heading straight to the alcohol section where hopefully one of them is 21.  Once they get the BEER they proceed to follow the path of the first time student, which means all of them picking out their favorite chips and snacks, a quick run down the bread aisle.  Notice neither they or the first time student picking up cheese, sandwich meats, or even peanut butter, just bread.  I guess BEER soaked bread will get a person through a day.

The one thing that I didn’t see in any cart was ramen.  When I was in college the first time round, ramen was the shit.  Everyone had BEER (oh, I was no better than they are now, it’s just funny now) and ramen.  Nope no ramen this time round, maybe that is a sign of the times, but I wonder if it is a sign of the students they let in here…BEER soaked bread indeed.