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| Again, There Is Bounty! |
by Peggy Robin
Two weeks ago (Saturday, April 25) I posted a column
that started off by spouting off on the value of things in life, and then quickly
got sidetracked into the far more frivolous question of the role that trivial
preferences – like brand name products over generics – can have on our mood. This
time around, I’m dispensing entirely with any nod to deeper, philosophical meaning
and just getting to the practical point. We have irrational preferences for certain
brands….and now they’re back! Not in great quantity, and not everywhere. You do
need to scout them out. But if you do your homework and you show up at the
right store at the right time, Bounty will be yours. And quite possibly some
Charmin, too. And those crispy Claussen pickles. Not to mention Total and Life.
Standing in the grocery store aisle with a full cart, I began to feel the
jigsaw pieces of the old shattered world slowly snapping back into place, a few
at a time.
And I didn’t even have to get up at the crack of dawn to see
these long missing pieces come into place. I went to the Giant at around 8 AM –
not in the 6-7 AM window set aside to give seniors a first crack at the goods.
I do need to confess, I have not gone entirely without
Bounty these past two weeks. As a result of my complaint in this space two weeks
ago about the lack of any Bounty to buy, I received a number of private replies
providing some hot shopping tips – where to get this or that item on my list. But
one kind neighbor went above and beyond that, and assumed the role of the Paper
Towel Fairy, flying by my front porch one day and leaving behind a roll of
Bounty. I’ve been doing so well at conserving paper towels, by using my dish
towels for all kinds of drying and mopping-up tasks, that I succeeded in making
that one roll last most of the two week stretch.
When I finally reached the point of having to do more shopping,
I followed the tip of another list member who recommended going out to the Westbard
Giant in Bethesda. Not only is it big and well-stocked, but it’s got wide
aisle, which make it easy to steer clear of other shoppers. There are clear floor
markings directing the flow of shopping cart traffic to help people maintain
their distance. The cashiers are well protected behind large, plexiglass
barriers. The credit card machines are wrapped in disposable plastic which can
be changed easily. Everyone – whether an
employee or shopper – is wearing a mask. And the parking lot is so capacious
you can park far away from anyone else, if you don’t mind a bit of a hike to
the front door of the store.
I knew as soon as I stepped inside that this was going to be
a most rewarding trip. The whole store looked just as you expect a normal grocery store to look. No empty, unfilled space as far as the eye could see. Not even in the high-demand paper products section of the sotre. And there was the Bounty, in both select-a-size and whole
sheet mode. There was a polite sign on the shelf asking customers to limit
themselves, please, to just two packages. I took only one package of eight double rolls.
That should hold me for quite a while. It's definitely enough to keep me from writing a third column on this subject!
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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