Lost in the supermarket


I’m all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

I wasn’t born so much as I fell out
Nobody seemed to notice me
We had a hedge back home in the suburbs
Over which I never could see
I heard the people who lived on the ceiling
Scream and fight most scarily
Hearing that noise was my first ever feeling
That’s how it’s been all around me

I’m all tuned in, I see all the programmes
I save coupons from packets of tea
I’ve got my giant hit discotheque album
I empty a bottle and I feel a bit free
The kids in the halls and the pipes in the walls
Make me noises for company
Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely
And it’s not here
It disappears

I’m all lost
- "Lost in the Supermarket," The Clash
-------
we spent the better part of sunday going to Makro Cubao. Just by looking at enormity of the place, i just realized i don't need most of the god awful things ever invented by mankind, but seeing them neatly stacked in 6-packs, conveniently bundled with buy 1 take 1 offers, and false promises of substantial savings, i was happily zooming the cart, with nel being her customary restraining self and comparing prices and telling me what i need and what i don't. you want to find out if a relationship is symbiotic? go to the supermarket with him/her.
anyway, more than an hour later, i was happy with my loot:

  • a bottle of novellino red (P149)
  • a sour cream and cheese dip (P45)
  • 6 bottles of C2 Green tea
  • An air and fabric freshener for my car (P111)
with her food and household items, plus 3 packs of asparagus, we called it quits. Our hunt for a spiritual shopping experience and substantial savings cost us around P1500, with most of the items not really in our weekly To Buy list.
we promised never to go back there again (the entry via EDSA cubao was a nightmare) and instead direct our efforts at the more convenient and friendly Cherry Supermarket.
But somehow superstores, they invite you in and then make you feel less of a human being once inside. Why would i buy a jumbo 5 kilo washing detergent when i can get one kilo for a week's worth of laundry, or why buy 12 cans of pork and beans when i only want 1 every month or so? Plus, the carts are forboding: try shopping for less than a thousand bucks while lugging a shopping cart the size of a kia pride. On the way to the checkout lane, you get glancing stares from the other shopers, while you paranoidically think they're mumbling "Yun lang binili nila?" The nerve of me.
It's not the money, i guess. i can blow half a month's salary of Feta cheese, Honey Stars, a case of beer, assorted potato chips, and a dvd player with 5.1 speakers and not even feel the dent. hurray for the sari sari storeowner or the 12-person family out on makro, shopwise, or any other mega/ultra/supra market. As for us, and me especially, 7-11 will do nicely.
Yes, they don't have FHM as well.

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