Always the Bridesmaid…

I walked out of my local grocery store the other day and saw a poster on the bulletin board: "Customer of the Month!" It had a picture of a woman and her name. Neither the picture, nor the name, was mine. I find this very confusing.

When we were first married, and were really into dividing all chores up equally, my husband volunteered to do the grocery shopping. Great! He created a list, brought it to the grocery store, ordered it according to the shopping aisles, put it on the computer, and printed it out every week. He even set up the paper so that one page held four lists, so we wouldn't waste paper. I'd then add specifics to the list and he'd take care of it. He called me from the store every week asking what brands and sizes I wanted, and although it took up a lot of time, he got the job done.

As life got busy and we had kids and I had more time at home, I took over the grocery shopping. I tend to wander the aisles, looking at everything and seeing what we need/want. So that pre-printed list no longer exists.

I am in that store every single day. Not because I want to be, but because, as my husband says, I'm horrible with grocery lists. Sure, I make grocery lists. On good days, I even buy everything on them. But I always seem to forget to put something on them, or don't think about a particular recipe I want to make, or one of my kids suddenly hates a dietary staple and I need to find a replacement.

My grocery store has apparently put a huge effort into being friendly—maybe they think that will make up for their high prices? Everyone who works there says hello to you the second they see you. With me, they call me by name. Seriously. I have more friends in the grocery store than I ever did in high school. I've even been complimented on by bagging abilities.

So why am I not customer of the month? Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want to see is my picture and name plastered on the grocery store bulletin board. It's bad enough that I have to put makeup on to go there because I inevitably run into people I know. The last thing I want is the added attention. But I really do want to know what their criteria are. Because by my calculations, I own that award!