Unfriendly Grocery Store

If a certain local store wants Canton’s seniors to patronize it, they are going to have to be considerably more sensitive to our needs. The store's parking lot now has a large sign which reads as follows: CUSTOMER PARKING—2 HR LIMIT—VIOLATORS CARS WILL BE TOWED AT OWNERS EXPENSE—NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY THEFT OR DAMAGE

Now, that 2-hour limit may be okay for young commuters who rush home after work, or the soccer moms who go to the store between games and PTA meetings, but it is totally inadequate for us old folks.

Consider that a typical senior does the following after parking their 1972 Chevrolet Caprice wagon. First we struggle to remove the crushed shopping cart we hit while parking our car and, if the cart's still working, we take it and head toward the store. Just as the automatic door closes behind us, we realize we left our shopping list in the car. So we leave our shopping cart in the store, return to our car for our list, and then to the cart. By this time some efficient employee has returned it to the outside cart storage area.

Finally, we are now inside with a cart and are about to begin filling our order. A quick check of our watch indicates it has now been 1 hour and 10 minutes since we parked. Next, some young lady who said something about caring asked if we'd like to sign some silly petition, and we figure any caring person must have a good cause, so we sign.

As we travel down each aisle we meet friends and spend a few moments visiting. After picking up 12 items, we move as quickly as possible to the fast "12 items or less" line. We do this because we have been told that if you buy only 12 items at a time you can beat that 2-hour parking limit. Well, "fast" apparently means faster than the time it takes to get any help at the meat counter. When we finally get to the cashier, we notice a tow truck with a big "GOTCHA" sign on the roof circling the parking lot.

Checking our watch, we find we still have ten minutes before our car is TFT'd (time for towing). Finally we are back to our car with our 12 items. Now, like all people of our generation, we are trained to put things away when we finish using them, so we bring our shopping cart back to the storage area. We then meet another senior we haven't seen since they had their heart, kidneys, hips or knees replaced. After a 5-minute review of medical history, we head back to the open space in which our car had been parked—darn!—if only that tow truck operator worked at the speed of the people behind the meat counter!

If anybody ever sees one of those caring people when they are not getting signatures, attending town meetings or burning boxes (big ones), please inquire if they can get that charming rural sign removed—it's ugly and it's been there forever.