This morning we cleaned and did a bit of school, and this afternoon we left around 2:00 to head to the commissary. The trip was uneventful, and we got less stuff than we normally do. Usually we spend around $650 every 6 weeks there, but this time is was just under $550. I knew it would be less because the two carts were not piled roundly high, where I have to wedge things in so they don't slip off the top of the mountain!
There are 2 ladies who work in the meat department, and they recognize us now, and always come out to talk to us when they see me browsing the meats! They really like the kids, and this time we got around to introducing all the kids. The ladies recognized all the names as Bible names, and said they thought our kids were as well-behaved as the Duggars, LOL. They're both fans of the show, apparently. It's fun to be recognized in a good way, though!
After we brought the car around for the bagger to start loading, I immediately started putting brown paper sacks of groceries on the floor under Faith's feet, as I usually do, while the bagger put stuff in the back. We always have to put stuff at Nathan's feet, and usually on the floor at Luke and Grace's feet too, so I was mildly surprised when the bagger finished up, and shut the door, without needing to put anything on the floor at all! Plus, he was really speedy too. Wow! But it was almost 100 degrees at the Ft. Myer parking lot today, so I didn't stand around cogitating. I hopped back in the van, cranked up the air conditioning and headed home. Who knew spending just $100 less would make such a difference in the amount of bags we had?!
When we got into home, we leaped into action, since I told everyone that we had lots of frozen stuff, like a 5 qt. tub of chocolate ice cream--don't want that melting into a puddle! Everyone worked like a well-oiled machine, bringing bags of groceries in, unloading inside bags, and unloading bags in the garage into the outside fridge and freezer. Nathan kept asking where the big ice cream tub was. And the frozen pizzas. Hmmm. We got all the bags out of the van in record time and were almost done stowing them . . . when we realized the ice cream just wasn't there. Neither was the apple juice. Or the big jug of veg. oil. Or any frozen vegetables, lunch meat, 2 family-size packs of boneless chicken breasts, a watermelon, and random cans of tuna, soup, peanut butter, etc. One whole cart of groceries, in other words. No wonder everything fit so easily! We got the receipt and realized it must have been the first cart loaded because it was primarily everything from the beginning of the receipt. So that cart must have been pushed aside while the baggers filled up the other carts, and never brought outside with us. Grrrrrrrrrrr. It was now after 5:00.
Bob came home from work, and we related our sad tale of woe. We called the commissary and left a message, and they finally returned the call. Yes, they had found the cart. They had wheeled it into a walk-in fridge, and they had taken out the bags of frozen stuff and put them in a freezer. At least my ice cream wasn't melting! They offered to take everything out, scan it, and give up a refund, but I needed the stuff! We have company coming tomorrow! Bob's retirement ceremony is Thursday! So clearly I would have to make the trek back into D.C at rush hour to rescue my poor groceries.
I took Nathan with me so I could HOV on the way home. There was tons of traffic, as you might expect, so it took us about 2 hours, round trip. I was glad we went though. There was a bagger number on the receipt, #80, and so I was definitely grumbling about him in my mind. When we got there, the head bagger was quick to help us get our groceries out, and another gentleman pushed everything to the van. As we were walking out, he pointed out another older black gentleman and asked if that was who my bagger was. I told him that man had helped bag, but he wasn't the guy who pushed everything (not) out to the curb and loaded it. The man said the older gentleman was #80, so I was so glad I was there to clear his name, so he wouldn't be blamed for anything! It was this younger kid, and I guess he just wasn't paying much attention. I described him, and the man said, "Ah, yes . . .I know EXACTLY who you are talking about . . ." So I'm thinking things aren't looking so good for that guy.
As Nathan and I were driving home, as soon as we got on the highway, we saw an accident on the other side, where we had been driving maybe 20 minutes before! The police were already there, so it must have happened just moments after we had gone by! We saw a second accident also on that side as we continued on home, so we felt like we left accidents in our wake! I wasn't driving crazily, honest! It was pretty bumper to bumper, though, so I guess people weren't paying attention. So glad I wasn't involved! I am pretty sure that would have made the day rank right down there with our zoo trip last year where my wallet was stolen. Now, to turn into bed early . . .
2 comments:
That would have reduced me to a puddle of tears. You are amazing for going back and redoing the whole thing! I would have been at the Safeway around the corner, cursing the whole time. :-)
Oh, what a frustrating experience! I would be inclined to agree with Tonya, LOL.
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