A shopping list is made by simply writing down the required or merely wanted items from the shopping trip that is sure to happen after said list is made. This is usually done, especially as a person becomes older, in order to not forget what they went to the store for in the first place. It is a relatable frustration to someone who has worked in a kitchen as a line cook and was ordered to go to the walk-in for an item or two to replenish the line only to have the door close behind them and as they feel the refreshing cold air of the walk-in cooler rush through their warm and tense body, they forget what they had been ordered to retrieve off the shelves. Or when one turns from the range top in their own home kitchen to the refrigerator or pantry to quickly grab something that needs to be added to the pot immediately only to forget what it is when they crack the door open. A shopping list is also used at times to keep track of what one must buy and thus creating limits on what they buy at the store by avoiding all the temptations that are on the store shelves around them and to focus purely on what they are there for. Such an uncomplicated and manageable idea as the shopping list can be complicated in theory as well. I could be given a shopping list for the basics by my wife such as grains like oats and lentils, canned goods typically used in our kitchen like canned Cento tomatoes, chickpeas, black olives, toss in a meat product or two, a carton of oat milk, a dozen eggs, and a loaf of bread. But I am not such a basic man as to concede and follow a list strictly such as this. No, I will buy that bag of pickle chips if I want, a 6 pack of IPA, and maybe splurge on good Hill pepper bacon for $9.99 rather than the Smithfield bacon that usually runs $7.99 a pack. Such a small monetary change at the end of the grocery line but a small rebellion against the shopping list that was my idea and was entirely my idea. What seems like such a simple thing can bring one pleasure during their umpteenth time to the local Safeway, Kroger, or WinCo.
But the shopping list gains an aura of mystique and mystery when one finds one on the ground or in the cart that they pull out of the line from inside the grocery store or shopping center. Today at my local Safeway, my cart held a folded 5x7 index card and as I cracked it open, it read:
2 tom sauce 1 tom paste
mushrooms
zucinne
mixed vegies for steaming
parmeson cheese
use fresh tom
dish soap
hand soap
Now, a few things can be established from this list. Firstly, there was a wonderful use of short hand lingo to this list but many blatant spelling errors. Second, as the food items and the two soap items were written by different pens and separate people due to the differing handwriting, it seems that there could have been a couple working together on this list. When the additions of dish soap and hand soap were given to the list after the food items were is unclear but considering the rushed writing of the soap items on this list, I would assume that they were written either when the shopper was heading out the door or right before they left their car to enter the store. Thirdly, it seems like the couple are going to make some sort of tomato based pasta dish, quite possibly by using a zucchini spiralizer which is something that I have used before and slowly grown to love. Hopefully they do not forget to squeeze the “zoodles” and get the most moisture out of them before they plate the dish. By reading the list left in this shopping cart, one with a lame wheel on the front left and a squeaky back left one, I do feel like I have had a view into a stranger's world for the day even if it was quite a bland one. Though, a stranger's shopping list left behind could be much more interesting. Take this list for example: milk, coffee, bottle of lube. Now, with the bottle of either water- or silicone-based lubricant, what could we assume from this person? Was it for a romantic night of lovemaking, or a sweaty night of hard fucking? Was it written by a person who preferred to take their children's temperature rectally rather than digitally, under an armpit, or in the mouth due to the more accurate and consistent temperature that is found in the anus? Or was it someone who had a hard time using a suppository medication and preferred to lube it up before poking it in? Why is it that the coffee and the milk seem so meaningless and bland but the addition of the lubricant creates such a flurry of questions and curiosity? Most likely due to the intimate nature of the lubricant. Few things at a grocery store could raise an eyebrow on a stranger quicker than a shopping list consisting of lubricant or condoms or Plan B. And why do I find it so intriguing? Is my life so bland and boring that I find interest in the smallest things dealing with our odd societies “naughty” items? Or do I find interest in the people themselves and creating my own stories with what limited information I am given about a person I have not even seen in the flesh, only in their writing? Hopefully it is the latter but who really knows?
