Groceries For The Unemployed

    I've gotta be honest, here....Save-A-Lot totally creeps me out. Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to put down every Save-A-Lot stationed throughout the country (um, is it even a national store or is this just a regional creep-fest that I get the priveledge of living near?) but the branch in my town definately gives off the "If you happen to die here, we're going to put your body in that big freezer in the back while we rifle through your belongings and THEN call an ambulence...(maybe)" vibe. Perhaps it's the rapidly blinking florescent bulbs that put my nerves on high alert... or the fact that the employees stare at you the entire time you're in the store (ease up there, Riff, I don't have a knife).... or maybe it's the fact that NOTHING is organized in a logical fashion in that store, which is the equivilent of someone holding a gun to my head while shopping (seriously, the store is like the Salvation Army of groceries....but at least Salvo organizes by color, which is more than can be said for Save-A-Lot.... brown sugar and cat treats should not share the same "bin"). It could be that the majority of the people I bump into (and yes, I've yet to enter this store without people walking directly into me....spatial impairments? invisibility cloaks? inner ear damage? so hard to decide....) lack the proper amount of social skills (and hygiene) to be left to their own devices in a public setting. I'm not saying it's Group Home Field Trip Day everytime I'm there, but it's close.
     Here's an example. Yesterday, once I willed myself to bite the bullet and embark on the local Save-A-Lot experience (afterall, I did save a lot...), I found myself next to a particularly pungent 20-something man in the "produce section". Moments later, the man lit up a CIGARETTE......right there next to the bananas! I stared at him, mouth agape (which was quite unfortunate, considering the smoke billowing right at me and all), unable to comprehend why he and his suspected "baby mama" carried on a half-sensical conversation while smoking all over my fruit! Thankfully, the Save-A-Lot employee came to the rescue and reminded the gentleman (letting me know this wasn't his first offense) that smoking in the store is STILL not allowed. Needless to say, I didn't get the bananas.
     And what's with the bag situation? Perhaps my Go Green! readers will scorn me for this, but is it really the end of the world for a grocery store to provide paper or plastic? Must I really have to fold my coat up like a sling to carry my purchases to my car and then once again to go into my house, while managing to wrangle 3 nut-ball dogs at the same time? I mean, at least Dollar General rewards my business by giving me a bag AND coupons to come back. Ugh....the trials and tribulations of the white mid-lower class. (Oh my gosh, I have got to get a job....)