Just as there are many types of products in large grocery stores, there are many types of people shopping in these stores. It is to this vast array of customers that the larger grocery stores must appeal. For instance, there are always women; true to their task, combing each aisle, in order to fill a cart they push along, with all of the items they have mentally listed. You can usually recognize this type of shopper by the "active" clothing that they wear. They tend to care little about their outward appearance, apparently just coming from a yoga or step-aerobics class at the local gym. These people are constantly on the move, and yet, somehow, finding time to maintain a reasonable supply of food with which to feed their families.
Other types of list-followers are the men who can also be found pushing a cart, filled with items from the store's numerous shelves and freezers. The difference between the two types of shoppers is that unlike the active mental-listing females, the males are fairly unaware as to what they have in their carts. They follow a list, probably scribbled down by a career mom/wife, who does not have the time to also do the grocery shopping. These men tend to look confused, yet move with a sense of purpose. And they seem to beam with pride when they find little check marks on their now-crumpled list, which they have made beside each item they manage to find in the store.
Another type of person found in large grocery stores is the grocery checker. This person is usually fast and efficient, pushing items past the infra-red beam on their checkout counter so quickly that the beeping noise the machine makes as the items whiz by sounds more like a large truck backing up, or an insistent alarm clock going off in the morning. Their fashion sense is horribly stunted, however, by the inevitably hideous "K-Mart blue", or "construction orange" colored smock that they are forced to wear while performing this task.
Yet another type of store employee can be found roaming around, usually up front by the checkout counters of the grocery store. This is the manager or assistant manager, whose main job apparently it is to carry around a small key on a wristband, waiting to be asked to unlock a register drawer for the checker. If there is a refund or price change needed, the manager will be paged. And as true to form as the active list-shoppers, he will maintain a persona of a care-less attitude and demeanor, slowly drifting towards whichever checker and register is in need of assistance. The manager, upon eventual arrival, will then slowly pull the magic key off of his wrist, and unlock the register drawer. He will then breathe a sigh of disgust, probably to cover up the actual pain of absolute boredom in his own dead-end job, and smile weakly at the apparently grateful checker. These managers take great pains to avoid the angry stares from the line of shoppers, which will reach to the back of the makeup aisle.
A third type of individual found in grocery stores is the child. Children usually fall into one of two categories when shopping with their elders. The first type is the helpful child, who seems to know that the pale, haggard face of his mother means more than that she is just tired of being an adult. This child seems to possess a sixth sense when it comes to knowing his mother or father's needs, and with a mature empathy, will help the parents find and fill the grocery cart with every item which they may need and can afford.
The other type of child can also be found tagging along with his parents in these stores. Unfortunately, this type of child is much more common than the first. This child is usually found stamping his feet and probably screaming, as if mortally wounded, because his mother or father has just told him "no". To this child, the word "no" appears more or less a plot to overthrow him from his present reign as "Little Mister Big Britches", and he obviously has no intention of going down without a fight. The parents, usually dressed casually and hastily, in their quest to dress the obstinate child, try desperately to quiet the screaming hellion, as he will otherwise kick shelves, and toss boxes of cereal down the aisle, intermittently screaming "You're not my real parents!" Eventually, what usually happens in such cases is that the parents give into the child's protests, and put the box of chocolate flavored "Goo-Goo Puffs" in the grocery cart. They then hope, and silently pray that the little "angel" will find nothing further on which to set his sights while in the store. Of course there is always the candy at the check out line, where not only the children but even the list makers, aerobics-class takers, and occasional store employee is forced to admit at least to themselves "Well, sure it's not on the list, but hey, it's chocolate!"
So as you look around at these people in the grocery store, and realize they are all quite different, remember they all have one thing in common. They all star in the same frame of a well-worn movie: "Shopping At Your Local Grocery Store". And as you push your cart of items through the parking lot to your vehicle, you see the credits of this film, once again roll by on the screen of memory. It is at this point that you will then silently hope, as do all the other actors leaving the set that day or evening, that the next sequel to this movie is better than the last.
