Spy Cam

Dog Fish Head

Really??

Scratch and Sniff Beer?

Who are those people at Dog Fish Head?

Pearl Street Beverage

I get so used to seeing things in the cellar at work that when I actually do get out into the world...

... it seems sort of shocking to see these things.

like... EVERYONE knows about that stuff?

The Banana Box Thing

You would think it was a simple thing

to tell you about a banana box lid, right?

BUT

the story of Banana Boxes is a big story to tell,

because it involves

WOOD.

And the story of

WOOD,

in relation to the store,

IS HUGE.

It is so huge that I have been avoiding it,
although I find it endlessly fascinating.

I haven't even shown you all the stoves in the cellar, ffs.

See? I am starting to feel overwhelmed this very moment.

I guess I just have to go slowly, in parts.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Chapter I - The Glut
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ 

Once Upon A Time

there was a banana box lid surplus.

 They lived on the wide cellar stairs near the produce room.

 It was an impressive surplus.

There were banana box lids stashed in strange places, places about which, at the time, I knew nothing.

In fact, I knew very little about banana box lid usage, although, exhibiting signs of the premier human character flaw, I thought I knew it ALL.


You couldn't help noticing all those banana box lids choking the wide cellar stairs and stuffed in strange cellar closets. What was the destiny of all these lids? Was supply going to exceed available on-site storage?

I had my eye on The Situation.

Once in a while some noob would improperly dispose of a banana box lid. And we would all be like, "OMG! WHO MURDERED THE BANANA BOX LID?? Call the CSIs! Stay back! This is a crime scene!" Banana box lids are protected by Dan & Whit's Law, which is NEVER questioned. If you are supposed to save banana box lids then, no matter how many you see around you, you WILL save banana box lids.

Then gradually, without my really noticing it, the surplus began to dwindle.

And one day this winter, about a year after the glut, a Very Shocking Thing happened. The wide cellar stairs were empty. There were NO BANANA BOX LIDS ON THE STAIRS AT ALL.

NONE.

And THAT was a destiny moment.

Where had they all gone?
Why had they all gone?
Who was using them?
And for what?

Seasonal Selections

We are unloading ice deliveries again.
George asked me to make this sign last summer.
I tried to make it really nice
becuase I like him.

George is in charge of ice.

He puts on his heavy coat,

his green and black plaid wool cap,

 his gloves
and if someone is there to hear him he says,

"Time to count the ice cubes."

And into the walk-in he goes.

It is cold in there.
(You probably don't remember that George is Dan's father
and the original Dan's son.
George is semi-retired
so that means he only works about 60 hours a week now.)

We also have an ice machine.

It is by the green door so you have seen it lots of times,

you just didn't know you were looking at it.

Story of my life, right?

 (Click here to see it and please notice the huge scoop and scales partially hidden behind the door.)

Anyway, teenage boys have to bag up the 10 lb. ice bags

and then stock this cooler with them.
Ice is Taxable Grocery.
You have to know that if you are cashiering.

The 5 lb. bags come in the sleeves we get from

Associated Grocers of New England.

I will tell you about them sometime.

AG deliveries used to be very fun.

Now they are just -- 

in the Brave New James-less Post-Verne World --

annoying.

Soul Economy

You would not believe the number of expired power bars I found on the power bar shelf.

BUT... GUESS WHAT??

All the expired jello was SOLD!

I SWEAR!!

Not one box was left in the Half Price Gulag.

Cookie Cam: Up The Rabbit Hole

What it is like to be a Banana Box Lid full of cookies:

There is a lot of waiting involved.

The Story of Black James, the Necromancer

This is the cookie eating place.
It is right below the Jello Condos.

I inherited this place from James.
But James didn't eat cookies here --
 he drank vodka.

When he left I cleaned up after him and found several of his bottles. One was a 750 ml size and it was half full. Verne's brother took that one home.

I used to keep a guest crate here but when Verne left I took it away. Verne and I would hide out here together and do cool stuff like taste test the fake maple syrups and try to carve stuff into the wooden posts.

Boys are fun.

Anyway, I saved one of the vodka bottles so I would have something to remind me of James and all the fun times we had together.
This is how it looks now:

Last November it looked like this:

 but someone disappeared my cardboard intervention.

I think it was George.

 This is James and his diamond earring:

I inherited the cereal aisle from James. I still miss him.

James inherited the cereal aisle from Larry.

Larry worked at the store for 54 years.

He retired shortly after I started working at The Store.

Larry used to hang around the produce room telling me stories,

like the one about his dog named Heck.

I never took a pic of Larry.

I hadn't gotten that bored yet.

Cookie Cam: Through The Green Door

Cookie Cam went rogue.

Cookie Cam!

OMG!! I LOVE Cookie Cam!!!

Ye Olde Groceree Carte Recentle Repairede With Plexiglasse

The Cart.

It gives me a warm cozy feeling.

In the old days I assume it was used with those old boxes
for shopping by customers.

Now we use the boxes for hauling recycle bottles down to the cellar
and groceries up from the cellar.
And we use the cart for pushing around
anything that is push-around-able.

This is under the bottle bell, across from the blue bench.

See the Moving Ramp? Doesn't it just scream "COME ON DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE!!" at you?

The Moving Ramp: Unedited Footage

Contains:
One Handed Pole-ing,
Falling Cookies,
Gloom,
and
Shaking.
BUT --
it demonstrates how I get cookies upstairs.

Verne says hi

This was Tuesday, the day after his 21st birthday.

I was up in the office making out the Specialty Order.

He celebrated legal drinking quite heavily.

As did his brother before him.

(Not that it ever stopped him BEFORE he was 21.)

Did you know his brother was Grocery Czar before me?

Did you know I used to work for their mother as a baker?

And Cookie Delivery Driver?

She told me GREAT stories about them.

That was back when they were in high school.

So when my daughter started 9th grade the first thing I told her was,

"STAY AWAY FROM THOSE VERNE BROTHERS!!!"

But really, they are two great boys.

"OK, fine, take my picture."

"KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!!"

Dan took this one becuase he got sick of me.

(He stopped by again Wednesday

and told me he was STILL recovering.)

The Jello Underground

Where the Jello Revolutionary Front waits...

Jello Condos.

... to liberate Jello Patriots in captivity.

Coconut Cream Is Back

YAY!

And Shelly can come get her pudding anytime.