Grocery Shopping

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Yesterday I went shopping and as I approached the area where paper towels and toilet paper were stocked, I was relieved to see that the shelves were fully stocked. Then as I got closer, I was disappointed to discover that I was going need to buy generic as the Cottonelle that I prefer (nor any other brand) was in stock.

 

As soon as I can find the Cottonelle, I will be restocking the guest bathroom reserve supply with the generic. (Not that a guest has used the guest bathroom since February.)

[rvwnsd]

Yesterday I went shopping and as I approached the area where paper towels and toilet paper were stocked, I was relieved to see that the shelves were fully stocked. Then as I got closer, I was disappointed to discover that I was going need to buy generic as the Cottonelle that I prefer (nor any other brand) was in stock.

 

As soon as I can find the Cottonelle, I will be restocking the guest bathroom reserve supply with the generic. (Not that a guest has used the guest bathroom since February.)

Amazon has Cottonelle 24-packs.

[+ Pensant]

Did we ever think that we’d be discussing toilet paper brands on a public forum when we were younger?

[handiacefailure]

The Toto's seem to be a bit of a committment ? you can either buy the complete toilet OR just the Bidet attachment. but since I am not sure if I will like it, I was thinking of starting with the lower priced TUSHY bidet attachments and give it a spin... They are inexpensive so I can toss it if I hate it.

 

Seems everyone is jumping on the clean butt trend ? ? I dont want to have FOMO.....

 

A friend of mine bought the bidet seat at Costco for around $300 a couple years ago and I love it. I'd love to have one in my master bedroom bathroom since the seat heats up. Only problem is I don't have an outlet by my toilet and would need an electrician to wire an outlet there

[jjkrkwood]

A friend of mine bought the bidet seat at Costco for around $300 a couple years ago and I love it. I'd love to have one in my master bedroom bathroom since the seat heats up. Only problem is I don't have an outlet by my toilet and would need an electrician to wire an outlet there

 

I have the same issue with no accessible outlet, but I have seen units that dont require electricity, and those are the ones I am focusing on. My neighbor has one, and it work fine, but I really have nothing to compare it to.

[handiacefailure]

I have the same issue with no accessible outlet, but I have seen units that dont require electricity, and those are the ones I am focusing on. My neighbor has one, and it work fine, but I really have nothing to compare it to.

 

My concern is with no power how will the water be warm and how can you get the drying air?

[samhexum]

A comedian’s viral Twitter ode to New York bodegas has sparked a heated debate on what exactly sets the city corner mainstays apart from suburbia’s grocery and convenience stores.

 

“People who live outside of NYC and don’t have bodegas: where do you go to buy two Diet Cokes, a roll of paper towels, and oh also lemme get some peanut butter m&ms since I’m here, why not,” wrote funnywoman Alison Leiby on Monday.

 

“(this is also about how candy is kept behind glass and is only accessed by the owner or, when he is not there, his 8 year old son),” added Leiby in a follow-up tweet.

 

The initial post, which as of Tuesday afternoon had garnered more than 53,000 likes, primarily provoked two distinct reactions, each equally as visceral: Those who said Leiby had simply described a supermarket or convenience store, and those who rushed to defend bodegas’ honor as a unique business.

 

“In PA there’s this thing called Wawa,” wrote one user, who described herself as a former New York City resident of 17 years, in reference to the convenience store chain. “In CA there’s this thing generally called stores, but you drive to them instead of walking to the corner.”

 

Replied another user to Leiby’s rhetorical question, “Literally everywhere within 10 minutes of my house. Your idea of a unique quirk is a f–king store.”

 

Sniped a third, “Literally any place with a cash register.”

 

Other users were quick to praise the one-of-a-kind charm of a big-city bodega.

 

“There’s nothing like them,” wrote one bodega backer. “I lived in NYC for 10 years, LA 5, Atlanta 3. Used to get bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll, toilet paper, white vinegar, and a turkey sandwich all at once and all delicious. Nothing similar in LA or Atl, sadly.”

 

Wrote another, “A bunch of bitter people are saying the grocery store but the real answer is nowhere comes close. There isn’t one stop for dishwasher detergent a turkey sandwich a kombucha a pack of starbursts a bag of doritos and some chocolate covered shortbread cookies.”

 

And the popular Brooklyn-based @Bodegacats_ account offered a reminder that there’s more to a bodega than the products on the shelves.

 

“You mean, where do you go to pet your cats…,” the account wrote.

 

A few in the middle agreed with Leiby’s love of New York and bodegas, but questioned how she made the point.

 

“there is so much stuff you can only do at a bodega but you just described a 7/11,” read one such reply.

 

“This is ‘View of the World from 9th Avenue’ in a tweet,” wrote another user, referring to the famous city-centric cover of The New Yorker. “I love New York, but people who live in New York really need to leave New York once in a while.”

 

As Leiby’s tweet exploded, she cracked wise about whether the attention worth it.

 

“If they don’t talk about all this on NY1 tomorrow then it was all for nothing,” she wrote late Monday.

 

By Tuesday morning, the debate indeed spilled over to the cable news channel’s morning show, leading Leiby to proclaim, “THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

[jjkrkwood]

My concern is with no power how will the water be warm and how can you get the drying air?

 

Both valid concerns, and the attachment my neighbor has doesnt have either of those features, it just has a flush of cold water for cleaning, and requires a "wipe dry".... which I suppose is the "poor man's bidet" ? ?

[+ Pensant]

Mine have been ordered and hopefully will be installed next week. I have an electrician putting in an outlet. Very excited to take my morning ablutions to a more rarified sphere!

[Epigonos]

Here in California we are rapidly descending into the third world where electricity is concerned. Over the last few years we have come to endure more and more electrical rolling blackouts. I shudder to think of what I would do with one of these Toto toilets during one of our periodic blackouts.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Epigonos

[jjkrkwood]

Mine have been ordered and hopefully will be installed next week. I have an electrician putting in an outlet. Very excited to take my morning ablutions to a more rarified sphere!

 

I suppose its the next best thing to a RIMJOB ? ?

[+ Pensant]

I suppose its the next best thing to a RIMJOB ? ?

I’ll provide a complete report!

[jjkrkwood]

I’ll provide a complete report!

 

I'm still waiting for a pic of you in those "tight" skinny jeans. ??

[+ Pensant]

I'm still waiting for a pic of you in those "tight" skinny jeans. ??

Ok, good sir, I’ll commission one this weekend.

[+ Pensant]

Not really grocery shopping, but I’ve been upgrading some lighting in the house and have been working with a salesperson at the local lighting store who is really hot. He has long dirty blond hair, blue eyes and a gorgeous ass. He’s 31, but looks younger. Yesterday he was wearing tight olive khakis with a wide brown belt. I have some expensive dress shoes which I was planning to sell, but he’s interested in coming over to try them on.

[jjkrkwood]

Not really grocery shopping, but I’ve been upgrading some lighting in the house and have been working with a salesperson at the local lighting store who is really hot. He has long dirty blond hair, blue eyes and a gorgeous ass. He’s 31, but looks younger. Yesterday he was wearing tight olive khakis with a wide brown belt. I have some expensive dress shoes which I was planning to sell, but he’s interested in coming over to try them on.

 

Gee, what an inventive "pickup line"..... "Would you like to come over and try on my expensive dress shoes?".... When I get out of this lockdown, i'll have to try it.... I usually just say "do you have a big cock that I can suck?" ?

[+ Pensant]

Gee, what an inventive "pickup line"..... "Would you like to come over and try on my expensive dress shoes?".... When I get out of this lockdown, i'll have to try it.... I usually just say "do you have a big cock that I can suck?" ?

This is like fly-fishing. The anticipation is as much fun as the catch! I’m hoping I can have him sit on the chair while I remove his sneakers and put on the shoes.

[jjkrkwood]

This is like fly-fishing. The anticipation is as much fun as the catch! I’m hoping I can have him sit on the chair while I remove his sneakers and put on the shoes.

Wow, at least you know theres a career waiting for you at "Foot Locker".. while i'll still be at the glory Holes.

[MikeBiDude]

This is like fly-fishing. The anticipation is as much fun as the catch!

I appreciate the anticipation that leads up to situations like this too!

[+ Charlie]

This is like fly-fishing. The anticipation is as much fun as the catch! I’m hoping I can have him sit on the chair while I remove his sneakers and put on the shoes.

The prince finds Cinderella?

[handiacefailure]

Went to Costco today to get water for the office and return at TV and there was a lady arguing with someone at the return desk because they wouldn't take back her TP . She had a flatbed and looked like there were 8 cases of TP on it. Costco today had plenty of Kirkland and Charmin TP (no wipes yet which is what I really wanted) and plenty of paper towels with a limit of one on paper towels and TP per day so the lady had to have gone to costco at least eight different days of how every many packs she had.

 

She was complaining that they changed their policy to not allow TP and paper towels to be returned (I see they also had rice on the list, didn't know that was being hoarded). I just grabbed three cases of water and did grab one pack of TP and when I left the store she was still complaining but this time to a manager.

 

Wish I would have offered to buy one package of her TP for half price before I left the return line and bought mine:) I think it's funny if she'll be stuck with all that TP.

[samhexum]

I went grocery shopping at 4AM (as most people do) and got 2 cans of Lysol, the first I’ve seen since the pandemic began. Of course my cashier (who was otherwise terrific) had her mask under her nose, but as long as I don’t get sick in the next week, WOO HOO!

[jjkrkwood]

I went grocery shopping at 4AM (as most people do) and got 2 cans of Lysol, the first I’ve seen since the pandemic began. Of course my cashier (who was otherwise terrific) had her mask under her nose, but as long as I don’t get sick in the next week, WOO HOO!

 

You sure got me beat. Not even Bar-B-Q chickens on sale for $5.99 could get me up and into a store at 4 AM.... Maybe you were confused and thought it was Black Friday ? I documented MY trip yesterday AFTERNOON where I delighted in just walking the aisles and being out of the house, then going to White Castle and using the coupon YOU sent me.... But 4 am, NO WAY !

[samhexum]

http://synd.imgsrv.uclick.com/comics/cl/2020/cl201213.jpg

[samhexum]

A comedian’s viral Twitter ode to New York bodegas has sparked a heated debate on what exactly sets the city corner mainstays apart from suburbia’s grocery and convenience stores.

 

“People who live outside of NYC and don’t have bodegas: where do you go to buy two Diet Cokes, a roll of paper towels, and oh also lemme get some peanut butter m&ms since I’m here, why not,” wrote funnywoman Alison Leiby

 

OPINION

 

NY’s plastic-bag ban one more thing pushing COVID-slammed bodegas over cliff

By Francisco Marte

 

Bodegas across the five boroughs have been a lifeline for New Yorkers throughout the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns. But the economic and health effects of the crisis have taken a heavy toll on small food retailers — suffering compounded by the collapse of law and order in many of the neighborhoods we serve.

 

Which makes it all the more enraging that we now have to deal with a plastic-bag ban — an unfunded mandate that epitomizes the state Legislature’s sheer decadence and beholdenness to the boutique causes of gentry progressives at a time when the working class and small business are facing unprecedented misery.

 

Bodegeuros continue to courageously fulfill their roles as essential workers, manning the front lines in the city’s poorest neighborhoods and providing vital resources for the poorest Gothamites. But many of us are hanging by a thread, and some have been forced to shut their doors for good due to a lack of foot traffic.

 

As incomes drop and sales decline, bodegas need help so they can survive this downturn and assist in the city’s economic recovery. There is one easy step Albany could take to make things at least a little eaiser on us: scrapping or, at least, pausing the ban on plastic bags, which legislators imposed last year without considering what it would mean for bodegas and other small retailers that often operate on razor-thin margins.

 

When the ban was enacted, there was much discussion about its environmental benefits to the oceans. These are minor at best, as studies have found that the United States contributes less than 1 percent of the plastic litter in the world’s oceans.

 

But never mind that: Albany all but ignored the pressure on retailers charged with implementing the ban and allocated few resources to assist them in that effort. Now, two months since the ban went into effect, those impacts are starting to become clear. And as we predicted, the news is not good.

 

The state failed to think through whether there would be enough paper bags available to replace plastic, and whether the cost of this alternative would be too much for small businesses to bear — if they could manage to find paper at all.

 

The sad reality is that regulatory enforcement always falls the hardest on the most vulnerable and least politically protected segments of an industry. As bodegas and other small, independent businesses are struggling with the constraints of this ill-conceived ban, environmental advocates are blindly advocating for full enforcement without recognizing the hardship that creates.

 

One such advocate, who led the charge for the ban, has created her own “snitch squad” — based far from New York City in Bennington, Vt. — whose members are encouraged to inform on ban violators to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

 

State lawmakers also failed to consider the ban’s health impact on our store owners and employees. Reusable cloth bags must be regularly washed to ensure that they aren’t spreading germs, but research has shown that a majority of shoppers don’t actually follow that protocol.

 

In the absence of adequate supply and the prohibitive cost, many of our stores continue to use plastic bags while a legal challenge to the ban moves through the courts. We don’t condone or encourage violating the law, but this is what happens when the impact of a bad law on the most vulnerable stores isn’t fully considered.

 

That is why we support the effort by Assemblyman Victor Pichardo and his colleagues in the Assembly to place a two-year moratorium on the ban and institute in its place a five-cent fee on plastic.

 

This would generate an estimated $500 million a year, providing the state with much-needed revenue at a time when it faces multibillion-dollar deficits as a result of the pandemic. But more important, it will give bodegas and other small businesses some breathing room and allow them to offer shoppers what they really want: options, including the ability to choose a product that offers peace of mind when it comes to protecting their health as the pandemic drags on.

 

It is well past time for Albany to support independent retailers and remove impediments to their success, instead of loading them down with unrealistic and unfunded mandates that only make an already difficult situation worse.

 

Francisco Marte is the secretary-treasurer of the Bodega and Small Business Association.