Shoplifters will be prosecuted

Two weeks ago I needed some boxes in order to start packing for the big move. In the spirit of saving money, I decided I was going to go to a few of our local grocery stores and ask for boxes from their produce departments. A long, long time ago I used to work at a grocery store and I had the lovely task of throwing boxes into the baler each night, so I knew that grocery stores were abundant with extra boxes.

I’ll admit, I felt a little like a beggar for bumming boxes off of the grocery clerk instead of ordering them online or buying them someplace. However, I was determined to save a few dollars. Once again I am placing little to no monetary value on my pride.

The first store went so smoothly that I decided to try another. This time I went to Safeway and with new found confidence I strolled right to the back of the store and asked one of the workers for extra boxes. He was obliging and filled my cart to the brim with boxes. So full in fact was the cart, that I had to peek around the side of it in order to steer straight. I noticed I was getting a few strange glances from fellow customers but I didn’t care – these boxes were free!!!

As I got to the exit, it felt like the wheels on my cart were stuck. I kept pushing the cart forward but something was blocking the front wheels. About this time, I hear a faint alarm but pay no attention to its’ cause, as I was too focused on getting my cart to move forward. I was in the middle of the doorway, cart stubbornly stuck and boxes falling hither and yon every time I tried to push the cart toward the door. I am so focused in fact on the task at hand that I can barely hear a grocery clerk yelling “hey lady that alarm is for YOU!”

Once this message registered in my tiny brain I was mortified. Why would the alarm go off? Why wasn’t my cart moving? Before I could ask these questions out loud, a breathless clerk is standing in front of me, exasperated that I haven’t been listening to his pleas to stop what I am doing. He has some type of remote in his hand and I am kind of scared that he might taser me at this point. I think I may have even put up my hands as a gesture of peace. Instead of shooting me, he leans down and points the remote at the cart’s front wheels. I ask him what is going on and he explains that when a cart enters the store and then leaves without going through the checkout stand, the wheels lock up.

Oh.

So, it wasn’t that the wheels were stuck on some object I couldn’t identify due to the mountain of free boxes blocking my view. It was the “robo wheel” and its’ crime fighting sensors. Who would have thought.

Needless to say, everyone is now watching me and the clerk and the robo wheel cart. After he unlocks the wheels, I stumble out to the car with a red face. People the lesson here is – nothing in life is free. Even free boxes have a price.

This was just the start of the hilarity that was our big move. I have so much to write about – however after four straight days of moving, a sick Joshua, a sick Isaac and now a sick Mommy, I am burned out. So, more to come later but I thought you would all like to know that grocery stores are taking a bite out of crime these days –  so watch out.

Related posts:

1. Ethics
2. Events reported actually occurred (Seriously)
3. Misc. Detritus
4. Decisions, decisions…
5. Covert Operation: Beach at Dark