I never used to shop at this particular grocery store. When the kids were little, and as likely as not to pull themselves out of the cart and land on their heads, bolt out the door while I’m rifling for my wallet, or surreptitiously sneak a Snickers off the rack, it was just too much to deal with, and bag my own groceries.

This lack of bagging service means that the prices at this store are super reasonable, but for a mom of young kids, it also meant shopping excursions that were races down the aisles, me pulling crap into my cart as fast as I could before someone had a melt-down or a blow out, and then also remembering to pack the cold foods in with the cold, not inadvertently stowing the bread under the apples, while the next customer waited on me to clear the lane, and the kids threatened a WWF smackdown right there on the linoleum in front of God and everybody.

I couldn’t handle that kind of stress.