December 16, 2016. Madison, Mississippi. The Old Man.

At first I  thought the old man putting the groceries in the bags was with the lady.  She had just checked out and was standing watching the old man.  The reason I was even looking was because I had to wait.  The checker is not allowed to begin scanning grocery items until all the previous customer has every article in bags.  At Krogers you do not wait.  The store always keeps lots of checkers so I was surprised to be waiting.

When the lady walked off with her cart, I knew that the old man was working for Krogers.   But he was not really helping much.  He was trying to sort the groceries together but the process was slow.   When I paid, the checker began putting stuff in bags and doing it quickly.  Finally, the first layer in the cart was full so the old man told me that he was going to get another cart, which left no one bagging the groceries except the checker.  She asked me where he had gone.  She made a face.  Then another young girl came over to help and they quickly finished the task and filled my cart

I felt sorry for the old man but for Krogers it was a bit like hiring the handicapped.  He was not really handicapped but he was old and bent over and he was trying to sort the groceries as he put them into the bags.  The young girls just put the groceries in the bags as they come down the conveyor best.  And they did it all quickly.  When I was walking out the door, I saw him walking back pushing an empty cart.

Ken was called to pick me up.  I waited and watched people taking their groceries to their cars.  Sure enough, my old man was helping an old lady put her bags into her car.  He took forever.  She finally began taking bags out of the cart and putting them in the back seat.  He was doing the same thing by looking in each bag and putting the heavy object on the bottom.  But you could tell the lady was ready to drive away.  The poor man.  He was trying to be efficient but in so doing he was making everyone wait.  I do not think I am going to see him working there again.  He gets in everyones way.