First of all, I thought I'd be smart and go on my Friday off. Surely no one else could be there on a Friday early afternoon, right? Wrong. The street approaching Trader Joe's was stopped with traffic from cars trying to get into the tiny parking lot. It took me about 10 minutes just to get 1/2 block to the parking lot. At the time, I didn't know all the cars were trying to get to Trader Joe's. Otherwise, I would have given up and gone to Andronico's instead.

Once inside the store, I was shocked and bewildered to find myself surrounded by the rudest people I have encountered since my trip to Zurich in 1995. My basket was rammed about a half a dozen times for no apparent reason, followed by either a weakly mumbled "sorry" or no apology at all!

I'm a very considerate shopper. I always park my shopping cart out of the way while looking at grocery items. I usually stand on the opposite side of the aisle so that I can get a full view of the goods while also leaving plenty of room for someone to get around me. I was very disturbed to find that two different people stopped right in front of me to look at the same goods I was looking at! They didn't move, either! I was mortified! I figured they'd get the hint and move once I reached over their basket to pluck something off the shelves... but they didn't. (?!)

Plus, a fight almost broke loose near the front of the store. I heard loud voices. One was saying, "Stop touching me! You touch me, I hurt you."

I didn't even finish my shopping because I was so disgusted.

The only redeeming thing about the whole fiasco is that I got 3 full bags of groceries for only $60. What a deal! Still, I don't think it's enough to make me go back there, ever. Unless it's early on a Tuesday morning.

What do I have to do to get some groceries in this town? Safeway.com, here I come!