Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Clean-Up on Aisle 6

Something about peer groups.

There are lots of groups of shoppers
For example group A goes up and down every Aisle regardless if there is something in the aisle they need.
Group B just sticks to the outer ring of the store getting just fresh produce, meat etc.
Group C just goes in for one item and gets out.
Group D sticks to the list.

Depending what group you are you tend to travel through the store with people of the same group who arrived just before or just after you. You might never see someone in your same group who arrived a the store say twenty minutes after you.

You might interact with people from other groups as you bump into them at the end of the Aisles but usually you are so consumed by your predetermined routine you just keep moving in your groups herd until the entire event is finalized.

Your entire life predetermined by your predisposition to belong to one type group or the next and the random chance of being surrounded by people due to nothing other then timing and random set of events that let you to start your shopping at that moment.

That is life..unless....something fucks up... You missed something in your cart. You broke a bottle. You saw a deal and got off the track. Suddenly you are with and entirely new set of your group or you are bee lining it back to get something and you become part of a whole new group. A group with different people with different attitudes. A group that makes you think about shopping differently.

Then you see a bigger picture. Once you know something can be different then what it is there is this stretching of the mind.

I can see the panoramic better.

This is probably just mumbo jumbo but there is something to the random collimation of events and the predisposition of life that can be bent...and altered with just the awareness that it exists.

3 comments:

Rocketstar said...

I could see somoe college student writing a paper for a socialogoy paper on the habits of humans and groups of shoppers in the supermarket.

Ma said...

I like this

Jenn'fer said...

Interesting! I actually belong to two peer groups at the grocery - when I shop Cub for the big stock up (you know, ramen, pizzas ans cereal for my kids), then I'm in the "go down every aisle" group. But then, when I go to Byerly's to pick up dinner most nights, I'm in the "perimeter" group. it's almost like matter and anti-matter touching... but since I'm splitting my time between the two stores I figure I won't destroy the universe with my weird ways!

PS - glad to hear that Alfie is better!