Beware, Hazards Ahead

This is a warning to anybody in the DC area, Never go to Giant Foods to go grocery shopping... especially if you are used to the upscale feel of the Harris Teeter.

Let me explain, it was Saturday evening and I had just returned from work. The Doctor and I needed to rent a carpet steamer because having 3 cats and a dog makes the light beige carpeting in the house very dirty. The only place that rented the carpet steamer was the Giant Foods in Columbia Heights. At first glance this looks like a fairly nice supermarket, and there isn't much wrong with the facilities per say, it is mainly the fact that it is too small for the onslaught of customers on a Saturday evening and the customers were all screaming, yelling, and crazy!

It was overwhelming with kids screaming and running all over the place and hurling produce at their parents. We knew from the moment we pulled up that we would be in and out as quickly as possible. We literally ran through the store and grabbed the items we needed while avoiding the other patrons. The Doctor ran ahead and got some stuff for brunch while I ran up to grab myself a beer, and Mr. NG went to buy the bacon for Easter brunch, I met up with NG while the Doctor went to get the carpet cleaner, we reviewed the list and realized that we still needed to buy OJ.

We head up the aisle that has the juices, I am walking straight ahead with my eyes scanning for my Tropicana (which is harder to recognize) and I spot it ahead of me. I turn to talk to NG and suddenly a five year old girl is sprinting down the aisle with her pink stroller ahead of her. She is about four feet ahead of me and I jump up to avoid her and end up in a freezer case, of course making a scene. The mother turns to me and looks at me like i am the one causing a problem. She completely ignores her child who running customers over ten feet down the aisle. I remove myself from the freezer case and go grab the orange juice, I put it in the carriage and we head towards checkout as quickly as possible.

We check out, still managing to spend $180, and run out the front door. We have never shopped that quickly, yet we were never quite as exhausted from shopping. I will never go to the Giant again, and I will always be scared of bright pink strollers!