Next to my house there is a street.
At the end of the street there is a supermarket. However it is not super.
It is very small. It's a big brand though*.
This very small, big brand supermarket is very unique.
Unique in the fact that it doesn't stock basic foods.
One day I went there on a desperate search for eggs. I looked everywhere. Because I was new to the area, and new to the supermarket, I thought I just couldn't find the eggs. I asked someone "excuse me kind sir, where art thy eggs?" He replied that they had ran out of eggs for the day and he was very sorry.
One day I went there in the search for oranges. Well, I wasn't actually searching just for oranges, but they were on my grocery list. Once again, I found that they had sold-out of oranges.
One day I went there on an early Thursday morning. I forgot it was pension-paying morning and could barely squeeze into the shop because of the amount of grey-haired, zimmer-frame-wheeling darlings all buying their multi-packs of tea and digestive biscuits.
One day (last week) I went on the hunt for some food. I found some bargains. 5 tins of soup for £2! I piled 5 tins in my trolley and headed to the self check-out.
(Side note: this little shop does have tills, but the staff don't like to use them. They make you use the self checkouts even if you have a trolley full of food that could feed the five thousand. Then they just hover like little bumblebees behind you while you scan your food at the little self checkout that doesn't have enough space to hold your shopping, while the two big tills on either side of you lie empty and alone. Now, I'm not opposed to scanning my own food....I love hearing the little 'beep' sound every time the scanner catches the barcode as it reminds me of games I used to play with my Mum when I was little....However, the point is that the shop is a little bit quirky!)
Anyways, back to my story. I scanned my 5 tins of soup that I was buying for £2 only to find that the discount wasn't being applied to the self-checkouts. I asked the nearest staff member for help. He stared at my screen. He didn't move, didn't say anything. He then turned to another member of staff and asked them what to do. Then he turned back to my self checkout screen and just stared, mumbling the words "I'm sorry.." I was not angry at all, I was finding the whole thing slightly amusing, and this staff member slightly endearing.
After a little while, another member of staff came to my aid. He was cocky and a bit of a show off. He slammed his fingers against the touch-screen, declared "You're done!" and started to walk off. I then said "I'm sorry, but I'm not done...you've now made it even more expensive than it was without my discounted goods!" Suddenly his ego deflated and he returned to my aid. After fumbling around for a while he decided that he didn't know how to actually discount my tins of soup, and promptly put three of them through for £1, 50p and 50p and just told me to chuck the other 2 in my bag.
I told him it would look like I stole them, he said he didn't mind. So I didn't mind. Good job the small shop isn't alarmed, as it would have definitely gone off as I walked out of the shop!
One day (today) I went to this little shop, that I'm losing more and more faith in after every visit, only to find that they had sold out of milk. (Only semi-skimmed, but that's the one I prefer!)
Moral of the story: there isn't one really.
*disclaimer: I am deliberately not telling you what big brand supermarket it is, for fear that it could be your favourite, and I want you to humour me as you read these little tales.
