Chaos rules the day

We got along to Morrisons yesterday to do the big shop. We knew it was a chore we weren’t looking forward to, as it was a bigger shop than usual. We seemed to have been running out of all the basics.

Our first shock was that the car park was absolutely heaving. We ended up going round the car park three times looking for a disabled spot to fill. We told ourselves it was because we’d come shopping earlier than usual. It was still lunch-time & a lot of local disabled & elderly people come for a cheap meal in the café. That would be all it was.

Having finally found our spot we ventured in. The Fox stopped to collect a trolley on the way in. He was surprised to discover they were all new ones. I meanwhile was being startled by the new layout inside. During our absence the whole store had had a makeover. Products were no longer in their normal place.

It started with the fruit & veg. definitely new stands. Now there was a whole stand of fresh herbs & salad veg being regularly sprayed with a fine mist of water(?). New veg had appeared on the scene, kohl rabi for example. We desperately looked out for our more prosaic needs of potatoes & carrots.

Then the Fox sought some leeks. They only seemed to be in multiple packs. Leeks are something we like the odd one of in a meal, usually a casserole, but not something we would have as a vegetable as such. A further hunt found us back at the beginning again. The loose leeks were on the sprayed stall. In the process we noticed that chillies can now be bought loose. Great! It’s always got to me that I’ve had to buy a pack of 3-4 chillies, to use one & the rest gone off before I need any more. No longer will that be.

Having finally got the fruit & veg we wanted located, we then looked for the garlic bread, usually with the fresh pizzas. No sign of them. I finally found them where the mushrooms had been. And so it went on.

Item after item took ages to locate. We ended up going up & down that store several times. We were not the only bemused people. Others were in a daze, desperately looking around with glazed eyes. It seemed to take us twice as long as usual. In the end we abandoned the shop without trying to look at the cheese stall. That can just wait until next week.

We made our way to the tills to find they too had been replaced with a new style. Admittedly they were wider, making getting through with a wheelchair considerably easier. Parents with young children were having problems though. Instead of little hands stretching out to chocolates, now they reached out for more expensive DVDs. Meanwhile I, a confirmed chocoholic, was put out as I can no longer reached that bar of chocolate I usually reach for on the way out, my little reward for having survived the shopping ordeal.

All the tills had queues even though more tills were open than usual. We soon discovered why. As our purchases made their way through, the operator had to search through the screen to locate where things were. She had to get help to locate the loose leeks.

She told us all the changes were done a week ago. Since then it’s been sheer bedlam. The store has been inundated with customers, more than they can cope with. She, clearly a pensioner, would be relieved if it all settled down to something a bit quieter.

We couldn’t help thinking we wished they could have done it when we had had a smaller shop. I dare say it will all settle down with time. If nothing else we should get more used to the new layout & where to find what we want. It is good to see some of the new products but couldn’t they have waited an extra couple of weeks until we could have coped better.

We hastily retreated to the village pub for a welcome reviving drink. Then it was home for a nap before dinner. The shop had exhausted us both.