I may have mentioned the scrutiny I am under when I do the shopping.
Well, last week nearly took the cake – in fact, it was butter: soft Western Star Original.
After you read this, you will probably understand A) the scrutiny and B) that ‘soft’ was not just the butter but the stuff between my ears.
A simple task was set from Old Mate: “While you are at the shops, get a tub of butter. It’s on special for $4.80”.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
I had a look at the butter in the fridge and off I went.
I got there and immediately forgot whether the container was red or blue.
Blue looked familiar.
So, off I lined up at the 12 items-or-less counter, behind a woman who had about 20 items, and finally got to Amy: the nice lady at the checkout.
She looked me in the eye and all of a sudden, I had doubt.
Was it blue or red?
So, I aborted.
I went back to the butter, rang Old Mate and was told, “The red one, you idiot. We have been having the same butter for decades.”
I grabbed it quickly, headed to Amy, behind a guy with 30 items in the express lane, and waited patiently.
Amy served me and rang up $7. As I took the receipt, I panicked.
Amy told me I had the 500g container: the 375g was on special.
I quickly did the maths and realised it was about 30 cents dearer.
So, with fear ringing in my ears, I handed the money to her, but headed back to get the right one.
The box was empty.
I headed back to the checkouts, deciding to get a refund.
Amy said she would look to make sure they were out of stock.
She came back empty handed and gave me a refund.
Poor Amy!
I rang Old Mate to see if she wanted another brand. “There is another shelf full of them near the nut stand,” she told me.
Back I went, and bingo!
Old Mate was correct as usual.
So, back to poor Amy and then off I went home.
I reckon I would have got a mention at Amy’s dinner table that night, which is quite appropriate: the guy who took 45 minutes to buy one tub of soft butter.
So, for the unskilled shopper, it worked out that if I had bought the 500g, I would have been paying 1.2 cents per gram more, costing 45 cents more than the one on special.
Old Mate would be so proud.
And Amy had the patience of a saint.
Thanks, Coles Birtinya.
Ashley Robinson is chairman of Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident. The opinions expressed are those of the author. These are not the views of Sunshine Coast News.
