Last Friday was our weekly vegetable purchase day. The vendor was scheduled to arrive at our gated community (or society, as it is commonly called here) at 10 am. I was all ready to go down and stand in line from 9.45 am and I was just savoring my cup of chai before that. My wife announced that somebody in her WhatsApp group had posted pictures of people already standing in the queue. I did a bottoms-up of the remaining chai with steam coming out of my mouth like an engine, grabbed the phone and the bags to go and stand in the queue. When I went there, there wasn’t a single soul around.
I called up my wife. “Is it in the usual place or they have changed the place this week”
“Usual place. Why?”, she replied
“Do you know the door number of the person who sent you the picture of people standing in the queue?”
“No. Why?”
“Because murdering someone could help me control my rage. There is not a single person here. Including the vendor. He has not arrived yet.”
“Oh sorry. Do you want to come up now?”
“No. Only 15 more mins to go. I will pass the time here on my mobile”
Just to be sure, I stood near the first box drawn on the floor. Whenever the vendor would come, I would be the first person to get the vegetables. Not too bad. About ten minutes later, few people turned up and stood promptly in the designated boxes. Then the society manager came by and informed us that the vendor was running late by an hour and that he would be in the premises at 11 am. There was a clear sound of disapproval emanating from everyone who was in the queue. Some were contemplating going home and being back by 10.45 to stand in the queue. I called up my wife and I told her the situation. I decided to catch up on my walk instead. It has been a while since I walked around the society and it was looking good with trees covering to form a nice avenue.
I also got an idea to write a blog post while walking. I needed both my hands busy in typing. So, I placed the bags that I was carrying in the designated box and went to walk around the society. I did not realize at that moment that I may have started something unprecedented.
It was quite good to walk freely after a month or so. While walking, I wrote and updated my blog with a post about baked potatoes. I felt very productive about posting something even though I have a huge catching up to do on reading others’ posts. After about 20 minutes, when I passed the same place, I saw the queue. With myself placed first in the queue. How? This is what I saw.
The people might have thought I had used the “handkerchief method” to reserve my place in the queue and they promptly followed. Except that I was still walking near the place while they went back home. Normally, I would have been embarrassed to do that, but since I didn’t intentionally do it, I was amused. I found this funny. And, I still got to buy the vegetables first which is a huge advantage in a society of 112 families. It was a lion’s share and here is our kill after following the ten step process.
Do you have any unintended funny moments that you would like to share?
Take care and stay healthy.
Pointless & Prosaic 
“So, I placed the bags that I was carrying in the designated box..” The Indian jugaad to save your time 😀
“I did not realize at that moment that I may have started something unprecedented.”– I thought they were going to fight but clever people 😀
The photo shows that you’ve learned how to pick good veggies that will be approved by the lady of the house 😀
“So that’s what becomes of us humans, we turn into bags in our boxes” – that would well have been a scene from a horror movie, would the movie start with that scene?
And as for the veggies, beautiful presentation, elegant, I would feel bad for disturbing it and eating it all up.
Only shopping moment I can recall is when I left a basket full of food at an isle to fetch some bits I’d forgotten, and it then vanished. Upon asking I was told one of the workers, a new starter keen to impress took all the items and stacked them back. I only left it for 5mins!! I did have to start all over again.
I dunno about funny, but happy accident might work. I made taco meat yesterday thinking I had shells or chips on hand but didn’t…and I started getting ticked off (murderous) and freaked out til I tossed the meat in with some macaroni noodles and shredded cheese…and accidentally came up with a surprise meal my child will actually eat.
No standing in line or reserving a spot, either!
Glad you got your lion’s share and your exercise and no blood was shed. That no bloodshed thing is a huge accomplishment these days, by my estimation 😉
That is nice. You should put that recipe down in a notebook so that future generation will not think it was an accident. History is very important 😛
Yes, there was no bloodshed.. It was well organized by the building association. Only the queue was long because the vendor skipped one week inbetween
“So that’s what becomes of us humans, we turn into bags in our boxes” – This was deep.
I had faced it many times too. In most of the supermarkets here, space is a big constraint. Pushing your cart through gaps is a skill. Many times, I keep the cart in a corner to go fetch something as I won’t have enough space to push between the aisles. When I come back, the cart would be gone. The employees sometimes think it is an abandoned cart and reorganize the items back. It will be frustrating at that moment but funny looking back.
Hehe.. I know from my parents’ experiences what happens when the man doesn’t know how to pick the vegetables. So, I learnt the trick early 😀
I’ve brushed shoulders with other shoppers many a time. Sounding reckless now but I’m kind of past caring. And the face masks…arggghhh. Unless you’re a key/front line worker, why wear one, its now like a fashion accessory!
Facemask and sanitizers are a good flash business to get into at this moment 🙂
Hmm…time to crank up the production line 😁
LOL
Brewery’s are having fun with making sanitizer. The brewery sanitizer bottles are way cooler now than anything before COVID-19.