All I wanted to buy was some Sudafed and some razor blades for the trip (I also got a battery powered flosser cheap, hell I’ll try anything to keep my teeth healthy nowadays). First, I go to the cold medicine isle. Most of the products have been replaced by cheap cardboard cards that state you are to please bring this up to the cash register so you can maybe get the product you desire. “Fine,” I think. “This is how the store and perhaps the state have decided to handle the meth problem. A poor attempt but I guess it is something.”

Then, I go to get some Mach 3 blades for my razor. There I find a note: I am to go to the customer service counter and ask them “Please, may I please purchase some razor blades.”

Unfortunately for me, fortunately for them, I am in a hurry to get home (else I’d have just left empty handed). I arrive at the cashier and after waiting in a lengthy line she goes off to find my cold medication, abandoning her register. The line grows. She returns with the wrong item (10 count instead of 20 count). I shrug, at least it’s less money I’m giving them, and pay and move on to the customer service department line.

There I am asked what kind I want, and how many, without being offered any sort of price list. I just pick one set for the razor and pay and leave.

All told it’s a pretty boring and uneventful story. I guess I feel more frustrated than it comes across in the post. I do believe that will be my last time visiting that Safeway. It’s unfortunate, again for me, though — the next closest grocery store is a couple of miles away.