Gross Monday...

Monday night, I went to Fred Meyer because it was on my way home. I had to get some more pots for re-potting my plants and wanted to see if I could get some more veggies and/or flowers for the deck and potting soil and didn't want to pay a ton of cash somewhere else. I never shop at Fred Meyer because they're over-priced IMO (at least compared to Target) and kind of out of the way for me. But I figured I'd give it a try. As usual, I found things that were "ok" but not exactly what I wanted. I wanted flower boxes, of which I'd gotten one last year for about $6 each but they didn't have them and only had ones that wouldn't fit on my deck for $15 each. So I opted for two large round pots and two more large hanging pots. I wanted some cascading flowers/greenery for the hanging pots but didn't really find anything, so I ended up with some smaller flowers. I did get a steal on some cherry tomatoes that can be planted in a hanging basket for $.99 each though which was unexpected.

As I grabbed my pots, plants, potting soil and gardening gloves, I made my way to the check out. Aside from the fact that it was an express lane, and the two people in front of me had about 30 items (the sign above the checkout actually says "about 12 items" which apparently means up to 30) I got in line and waited to put my things on the belt.

After doing so, I moved forward so the woman behind me could put her things on the belt. She immediately started talking to me. I smiled politely and turned forward. She started saying how hot it was in the store (all the doors were open and a nice breeze was blowing in.) I get to the front where my overly cheerful cashier was ringing me out and having a conversation about wines with her next door cashier neighbor. Not about wines they had for sale mind you, but just types of wine in general. Then she rang up my plants and the price came up wrong, so I had to get her to stop her convo to correct it.

Sometime during this, I look back and see the woman behind me with what appears to be some sort of creamy donut frosting on her face. She asks for a paper towel and I assume it's for her face. The cashier takes about a century to get her the towel, then continues to ring me up. I keep watching the woman behind me as she uses the paper towel on the floor. I think she must have spilled something and she'll ask the cashier for another towel for her face. She doesn't. What she does do is lean over her little plastic bag from the bakery section and proceeds to throw up in it. I instantly recoil, becuse it's gross, but also because I don't want to accidentally get "sprayed". I point this out to the cashier who has totalled my order, I've run my card and am "waiting for cashier". She just stands there and looks at the woman, and watches her throw up. No helping. No offering of paper towels. No calling over the intercom for a "cleanup", as it's hazardous material. I look at her and ask her to punch the button to charge my card. She doesn't move. So at this point, I'm trapped between my cart filled with things that aren't paid for and the woman behind me throwing up, who with each cough is pushing her cart into me.

What seemed like 20 mins was probably only a few seconds before the cashier snapped out of it, hit the button and handed me my reciept. As I walked away, the cashier started ringing the woman's things up - ummm...she's probably a bit busy throwing up and maybe needs a second before getting her credit card out to pay you, you think? Maybe it's ok to put your blinky light on signaling a manager and get the aisle cleaned up and allow the woman to compose herself before shoving her out the door with her purchases?

Ugh - I had to leave the store before I saw the end of it because I was feeling nauseous. I felt so bad for the woman, but couldn't do any more than I did without creating my own "mess". Yeah, I don't really like shopping at Fred Meyer and I think that sealed the deal for me...I doubt I'll ever go back.

On another note, and a much nicer one, I did manage to replant all of our potted flowers last night, as well as some new veggies and took some photos...our deck is small and the sun only hits it directly for about 4 hours in the morning, but things seem to do ok there. I was actually thinking of asking if I could have a small plot of land to build a garden at my complex yesterday since I like growing our own veggies...might bring it up this weekend to our manager as a community thing since we have a lot of older women who live there who might join in. Anyway, here are our plants so far for the spring:



Geraniums, gerbera daisies and some other flowers I forget the name of... :)




Gerberas




Serrano peppers, golden oregano and poblano peppers...hopefully these peppers grow and we get a few good ones for cooking/making salsa




Parsley and geraniums and unknown flowers in the back. I used some of this parsley last night with our dinner and it was delish




Tumbling Tom tomatoes in the hanging pot




Some greenery that is supposed to bloom into red flowers similar to impatiens..




Monet and Epi waiting patiently for their turn on the porch...

I'll have to see if I can get a clear shot of the whole porch but it looks nice with three hanging pots across the front, and then little groupings on each side with the flower box in the center with the peppers and oregano in them. I really want a garden space though...I'd plant cucumbers, romaine lettuce and beefsteak tomatoes if I had one!