The Task: Pick Up Prescription
The Location: Walgreen’s Pharmacy.
For some reason, every time I walk into Walgreen’s my shopping list expands as I peruse the aisles. Aisles? Yes, because those are conveniently the only way to navigate to the back of the store where the pharmacy is located, at least at every Walgreen’s I’ve had to go to for a prescription. And of course, I have to choose which way to get there. I only go down the interesting aisles: the make up, the food, the magazine, the shampoos, the soaps, the nails, you get the point. And I can’t discriminate so I have to go down them all.
Subconsciously, or I’ve learned from experience, I grab a basket and I’m off. In the make up & nails aisle, I grab whatever Essie color I’m digging that day (Walgreens carrying Essie may have single handedly changed my life), a new lipgloss and lipstain, some cotton balls and anything else I saw in one of my usual magazines or blogs. In the food aisle, my purchases depend on my hunger level. Sometimes I pick up just a drink, a Diet Peach Snapple or diet Arnold Palmer or bottle of water. Other times, I grab a granola or candy bar to cure any possible hunger, which could be in my future. Then there are times, I realize I haven’t been grocery shopping in ages so I stock my basket filled with all the cereal I’ve run out of, a new jar of Peanut Butter and anything else they may have that I use. In the shampoo & soap aisles, I’m a big smeller. I grab every soap bottle to see if anyone has come up with anything better than what’s already, Olay Body Ribbon Wash Blue and Johnson & Johnson Nighttime Bath Wash, resting in my shower. Sometimes I just grab a new product and test it out. Then I’m sure to check the price on the bumble and bumble shampoo (another great addition to Walgreens’ line) just to see if there is any kind of price reduction since the last time I was in and if they have bubble bath, because that may be the hardest product to find anywhere. I dare you to look, and if you’re lucky, please let me know when and where or a send a bottle my way. Then lastly, in the magazine aisle, I grab People, People Style Watch, Glamour, Cooking Light, Saveur, Food & Wine, (Don’t worry Mr. Adam Rapaport, I have a bon appetit subscription at home), Cosmopolitan, Better Homes & Garden and whatever other cover strikes my fancy. I told you, I don’t discriminate.
By the time I make my way up to the pharmacy, there I am, a basket bulging with all sorts of products and hands filled. I probably look quite ridiculous to everyone, especially the woman at the pharmacy, who was probably the same woman that helped me last time I came in. However, she nicely rings me up, without saying a word, and probably giggles to herself when my prescriptions are the least of my purchases. I then hobble out of the store, hands filled with bags and hurry home. Shamed, I’m sure to keep my eyes forward and not look at any of the items to my left or right. That will be for another trip.
And by the way, I even forgot something. As I say often, I have a shopping problem and I blame my mother.
