I AM SOMEBODY!!!!

I know, I sound like a bad tele-evangelist, but bear with me it WILL make sense!

When I grocery shop, I go to the usual suspects in our area, Wally World, Kroger, and a place called Quality Foods (not a bad place if you can stand the smell...) Yesterday, we were shopping in Athens (Georgia, not Greece) and decided to go to the commissary.

Now, let me tell you for those with no military background, Before we moved to Georgia, I NEVER shopped for groceries in a regular grocery store. No matter what was available in whatever town we were living in at that moment, it was ALWAYS the commissary. Then, once Sam's came on the scene, I would go to Sam's once or twice a year to stock up on a few things, but always had to be careful not to get too many things (never knew exactly when we were shipping out!)

I managed to feed my family of 5 for way under the 100 a month we had budgeted for groceries. I had a plan of attack, each child under the age of 6 had to be in a buggy so my oldest son would push one buggy and I would push the other two. My daughter would be in one of my buggies and younger son would be in my older son's buggy. We had a list and stuck to it.

The baggers worked for tips only! They would unload your groceries for you at the check out, bag the groceries, and take them to your car. If you had an ice chest for the meats, they would empty the ice into the chest and make sure all the meats were in there nice and snugly! At Christmas time they always had candy canes to give to the kids (we always managed to let the baggers know our kids did NOT get the canes!)

All that work, with a big smile and only for tips. Just like a waitress.... they usually got 10% or so of what I spent at the grocery store...

Fast forward to yesterday, New Year's Eve...

The commissary at Athens Naval Base (no, there is no water ANY where around there) is kinda small. Actually we had larger shoppetts in many places we were stationed (shoppett - convenience store type place), but I had high hopes for saving money! The shopping choices were kinda limited and not that great price wise, but I trudged on. I only ended up with a few bags of groceries (around 23.00) but did I ever get a surprise when I checked out!

I had forgotten about the service in commissaries! And get this...they asked me if I wanted paper or plastic! Granted you may have that option all the time...but Wally World Never asked me if I wanted paper or plastic! I don't even think they have the option of paper at any of the Wally Worlds I have been to lately!

How about that! I was treated like I was a Somebody! At a grocery store no less! I stood there with my mouth open, letting all the glory sink in... when suddenly I heard myself saying those magic words..."Paper, please". How glorious!

When we got home, I unpacked those two bags of groceries as ceremoniously as I could. I folded those two bags as gently as if they had been made of gold instead of brown paper. My husband had a smile from ear to ear, he just kept grinning like the Cheshire cat. I made a silly remark about how thick the paper was, and he said something about how strong those bags were...before he could explain his plans for them, I quickly took them upstairs to my studio...(I'm not sure what they will be used for, but they are not going to be used in anything as mundane as carrying stuff around!) My kids kept looking at us as if we had lost our marbles (they were not around when we went to the commissary in the past!) Finally, Damien said "they are just BAGS!", threw his hands up in the air and walked out. Brianna just shook her head and walked out of the kitchen.

Kids these days, they just don't get it!

Happy New Year to all!

Nini