In Stores and Shops

As the time for a new mission draws near, I find myself wondering what I've learned when it comes to marketing during the last couple weeks. First, I undershop. That's from years of never picking up more than a basket of things (okay, sometimes a very heavy basket of things) when I went to the grocery store. In this era of roomy refrigerator-freezers and skyrocketing carbon emissions, I need to make my weekly trip to the supermarket count. Can't be afraid to pull one of those grocery carts out of the carrel. And I wouldn't want to shop without a list, but making at least one trip up or down each aisle often jogs my memory about items I may be running a little low on at home.

Mind you, I don't want to overbuy. Something I've noticed about modern grocery shopping is that I never see anybody walking about the grocery store with calculators anymore. And I can't remember the last time I saw anybody using - or used myself - one of the scales in the produce department. Since cash was replaced by checks, debit cards, and credit cards, people have probably become a lot less conscious of the amount they're spending on groceries. I wouldn't have really given this any thought until my wallet was stolen and - while waiting two weeks for my new checks and debit card - I found myself shopping on a cash-only basis. When you've only got a finite amount of money available to you at the checkout counter, you become super conscious of every dime! Things you thought you couldn't possibly do without when you were grocery shopping with a debit card, i.e. real maple syrup, become a little easier to sacrifice when you're actually looking at parting with a five and two ones for it. (Suddenly, store brand artificial maple syrup looked pretty good to me!) Shopping with cash only is definitely anxiety provoking, but it does force you to reassess your priorities.

I'm launching a new mission on Thursday. While I continue working away at this kitchen-cleaning/weekly grocery shopping thing, I'm taking a brief side trip from new housekeeping missions and venturing into the world of vintage beauty. Stay tuned...

I'll leave you with some advice from Lily Haxworth Wallace's New American Etiquette (1941) on etiquette for the shopper. These tips are geared toward women shopping for clothing and other items, but they have some value, too, for those of us making our way to the grocery store.

Many women who make a pretense of fine manners become rude yokels in the department stores and specialty shops. They hunt for what they want with the culture of hungry wolves stalking their prey. They order salespersons and other store employees about, they seize and handle many articles they do not want and discard them carelessly, they rant and complain and shower their indignation upon an offending salesgirl if anything at all should happen to displease them. They act as though the possession of a few dollars in their purse or an A1 credit rating gives them the right to determine the policies of the store and to insult every one working in it. [I guess the A1 credit rating was the '40s predecessor of the FICO score!]

A lady is never rude to subordinates and those who might be classed as her social inferiors. She knows that the men and girls behind the counters are trying hard to please - their jobs depend on it - and their jobs are important things to them and perhaps several others. Accordingly the lady addresses the salesgirl with a smile and is free with her courtesies. "Please" and "Thank you" come as naturally to her lips in the store as they do in her drawing room.

The lady never takes the clerk to task because the accounting department made a mistake in last month's bill. She is directed to the proper clerk or official for that mistake and she politely asks for a correction. She does not raise her voice and she does not insist, "...that I believe this store employs the most stupid people in the world."