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November 22, 2006

Day Twenty-Two - What it Takes to Buy a Bell Pepper

This is why I don't like to grocery-shop in my neighbor.

Today, I had a big jelly-making marathon ahead of me, but lacked a red bell pepper for a batch to Thai pepper jelly. I made a quick run to nearest store to grab one. $1.59 for one pepper. Sucks, but I understand. They're out of season, transportation costs are up, and the past few years have been bad for pepper crops. That's exactly what I expected to pay.

Got to the checkout. While ringing up the guy in front of me, the cashier looked at me and my lone pepper. "We have those?" she said.

"Um, yeah."

"I thought we only sold those in packs of three. How much is that?"

"$1.59, and only the green peppers are in packs. Colored peppers are sold loose."

"$1.50?!?! Why do you have just one? Why aren't you getting the whole pack?"

"Because they're not in a pack and I only need one," I said, just wanting to take my damn pepper home.

Meanwhile, the old man behind me is offer helpful tips like, "It costs a dime! It's so expensive because they grew it on Mars! Gimme a quarter for it!"

The cashier got the produce guy's attention - mind you, all of this is transpiring while the guy in front of me waits for his order to be rung up. It wasn't even my turn yet. "How much are these peppers? And don't they come in packs of three?" she asked the produce guy.

"They're $1.59, and they're sold single," he said. I'm sure his eye-roll wasn't directed at me, but instead at the cashier, who hadn't even bothered to look up the code on the pepper to see for her damn self how much it costs.

With this gal working the day before Thanksgiving, it's gonna be a loooooooooong day.

Posted by Robin at November 22, 2006 02:10 PM

Comments

Posted by: Dixie at November 22, 2006 02:50 PM