My Favorite Place Of The Grocery Store

1540 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of teenage role models

It’s late in the morning and my mother and I are out and about, running our usual errands. Well , it’s mostly her running errands and me tagging along for the pleasure of her company. As we approach my favorite place in the entire world, the grocery store, I make sure my hair is settled neatly into its high ponytail and my sweater is fitted perfectly considering the gloomy weather. I step out into the September air and the first thing I notice is the parking lot, scarce but not vacant. Cars are scattered in various parking spaces, giving the parking lot the illusion of a set of teeth with more than a few gaps. As we enter the store I notice that it is very similar to the parking lot, scarce. “Great,” I think, “We’ll be able to get in and out without the bustle of a normally crowded day.” With lines that stretch for miles and the angry moms yelling for their children, as they continue to run through the aisles with fascination. I take one quick glance around and my eyes rest on the eyes opposite my vision, an old lady stands not too far away. The old lady who just happens to be the main character of this story other than myself. I don’t smile, I don’t blink and I don’t wave. At this point I’m wondering, as all teens wonder when there is an elderly sizing them up in the middle of the grocery store. “Is this too much cleavage, or are my pants too tight?” Maybe she knows who I am, but I couldn’t recall ever seeing her elsewhere. The staring battle ends as the old lady settles her face in a frown of disappointment and makes a hasty retreat. At this point the staring battle has ended, but my thoughts are racing, she looked at me as if I had single handedly ruined the world. To some my generation surely would, but could we really be tha... ... middle of paper ... ...ling to cast aside my pride for a moment to end this silent dispute. With that notion, I stare into the old lady 's eyes and do the very last thing she would have expected me to do, I smile. Not so much as a greeting, but as a sign of appreciation, to say “Thank you”. To my surprise, she smiles too, and with that the battle ends. I beam with pride as I remember the old lady three days later with her cart of flowers and cat food.. I beam because at that moment and with that one gesture she said something extremely important. A secret coded message. a message I thought I would never hear from an old wise person considering my youthful nature. I never thought I would be able to properly lead the world to victory, but it seems I was unaware of my own abilities. At that moment, I became aware because with that one gesture, that one simple gesture she said “ I trust you”.

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis of John Updike's A&P

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    This Story takes place in 1961, in a small New England town's A&P grocery store.  Sammy, the narrator, is introduced as a grocery checker and an observer of the store's patrons.  He finds himself fascinated by a particular group of girls.  Just in from the beach and still in their bathing suits, they are a stark contrast, to the otherwise plain store interior.  As they go about their errands, Sammy observes the reactions, of the other customers, to this trio of young women.  He uses the word "Sheep" to describe the store regulars, as they seem to follow one and other, in their actions and reactions.  The girls, however, appear to be unique in all aspects of their beings: walking, down the isles, against the grain: going barefoot and in swim suits, amongst the properly attired clientele. They are different and this is what catches and holds Sammy's attention.  He sees them in such detail, that he can even see the queen of the bunch.  Sammy observes their movements and gestures, up until the time of their checkout.  At which point, they are confronted by the store manager and chastised for their unacceptable appearance.  He believes their attire to be indecent.  Sammy, feeling that the managerial display was unnecessary and unduly embarrassing for the girls, decides to quit his position as checker.  Thought he knows that his decision may be hasty, he knows that he has to follow through and he can never go back.  He leaves, with a clean conscious, but the burden of not knowing what the future has in store.

    Read More

  • The Witchy Worries of Abby Adams

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Hi Daisy”, Abby says while taking a seat across from me. At that moment, my jaw literally dropped, and my mouth went speechless and dry. “Daisy!” Mom snapped, giving me “The Look”. I quickly closed my mouth and said hi. As we spent a few minutes in awkward silence after I said hi, I sat there staring aimlessly into her face. I wasn’t trying to be rude but she w...

    Read More

  • Use Of Setting And Point Of View In John Updike's A & P

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is important to realize that Sammy’s 19-year old depiction of his surroundings might be skewed, but the story still maintains Updike’s basic use of this setting. Updike choses the dull setting of an A&P grocery store as a symbol, a microcosmic example of the societies tendency to conform. Also, the readers can easily relate to a grocery store. This A&P resides in a town where “the women generally put on shirt or shorts or something before they get out of their car into the street,” Sammy explains. Seeing a girl walking around wearing only a bikini in such a public place looks outrageous. “If you stand at our front doors you can see two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store…” The town is a conventional one. Updike turns this familiar, mundane piece of American life, and makes it extraordinary.

    Read More

  • John Updike's A&P

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sammy is astounded by three young girls that walk into his store in their bathing suits. He follows their every move as they peruse over the cookies and other goods. The first thing this typical nineteen boy recognizes is the one girl’s “can”. But then he goes on to say that this girl is one that other girls seems to think has potential but never really makes it with the guys. One girl though especially catches his eye. He starts to call her “Queenie” because of the way she carries herself and that she seems to be the leader of the pack. Sammy does nothing but watch her every move as they parade about the store. He even daydreams about going into her house with her rich family at a cocktail party. He notices everything about her and thinks there was nothing cuter than the way she pulls the money out of her top. His immature infatuation with this girl is one of the reasons Sammy makes the hasty decision to quit in the end.

    Read More

  • Olivers Market

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    What competitive pressures must Oliver’s Market be prepared to deal with? What do we learn about the nature and strength of the competitive pressures Oliver’s faces from doing five-forces analysis of competition? Which of the five competitive forces is the strongest?

    Read More

  • Learning from the Homeless

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    It began in the County Mall food court. Resting at one of the tables after my lunch, I casually glanced around the place. The food court wasn't crowded, and consequently I had no trouble spotting him: a tall, dark, gray-haired man. He caught my gaze, and started walking towards me. As I took in his gaunt frame, his tattered red t-shirt, and the holes in his great sweats, it dawned on me that before me stood a homeless man. Reaching my table, he asked if he could sit down with me but I declined. I wasn't in the mood to talk to him, and so mumbling a poor excuse and an apology that was probably a few octaves below any decipherable level, and not particularly caring whether the man heard me or not, I got up and walked away. The man called out after me, assuring me that he didn't want money, but rather only someone to talk to. I was rattled by his persistence, and pretending I didn't hear him I quickly walked away, my heart pounding in my chest.

    Read More

  • A & P and Everyday Use Analysis and Comparison

    1679 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although one’s good deeds may often not be acknowledged, the inevitable lesson of maturity can be taught through such experiences. In “A&P”, Sammy is a teenage clerk who is not acknowledged for accomplishing what he thinks is a good deed. During a hot day, three teenage girls walks into the A&P grocery store, wearing only their bathing suits. The image of the girl’s revealing attire provides an absolute contrast to both the simple interior of the store and also of the other conservative customers. Sammy describes the customers as “sheeps” because they look mindless as they follow each other around the aisles in continual, constant motion. However, these three girls conflict with the imagery of “sheeps” by breaking the norms of what the A&P grocery store, and society in general, has proclaimed as acce...

    Read More

  • Reader Response Essay - Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    As I began reading “Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates I found myself relating the experiences of Connie, the girl in the story, to my own personal experiences. She spoke of going to a friend’s house and having her friend’s father drive them to the shopping mall so that they could walk around and socialize or go see a movie. I found that this related very closely with my own experiences of being fifteen years old because it was always someone else’s parents driving my friends and I to the movies or to the mall.

    Read More

  • The Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe wishes to develop a strategic plan to maintain long-term growth and sustain a competitive advantage. For Azalea to accomplish this, they will need to consider the options presented here. Included is an analysis of Azalea's problems and issues to address, along with recommendations to grow the business. The recommendations are based on the status of the current market and forces that drive the industry.

    Read More

  • The Life Changing Death: A Life Changing Death

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    As I put her slippers on her feet, it feels like I am dressing a cold doll. My mother begins styling my grandmothers hair and asks me to tweeze my grandmothers’ eyebrows when I am done with the task I am currently working on. The process of preparing my grandmother’s body for the viewing seems to be relaxing for my mother. I then realize this will be the last time she gets to do my grandmother’s hair.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative - Driving Test

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    As I walked out of the courthouse and down the ramp, I looked at my mom in disappointment and embarrassment. Never wanting to return to that dreadful place, I slowly drug my feet back to the car. I wanted to curl up in a little ball and I didn't want anyone else to know what I had done. Gaining my composure, I finally got into the car. I didn't even want to hear what my mom had to say. My face was beat red and I was trying to hide my face in the palms of my hands because I knew what was about to come; she was going to start asking me questions, all of the questions I had been asking myself. Sure enough, after a short period of being in the car, the questions began.

    Read More

  • Walmart

    7713 Words  | 16 Pages

    In 1945, Sam Walton opened his first variety store and in 1962, he opened his first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas. Now, Wal-Mart is expected to exceed “$200 billion a year in sales by 2002 (with current figures of) more than 100 million shoppers a week…(and as of 1999) it became the first (private-sector) company in the world to have more than one million employees.” Why? One reason is that Wal-Mart has continued “to lead the way in adopting cutting-edge technology to track how people shop, and to buy and deliver goods more efficiently and cheaply than any other rival.” Many examples exist throughout Wal-Mart’s history including its use of networks, satellite communication, UPC/barcode adoption and more. Much of the technology that was utilized helped Sam Walton more efficiently track what he originally noted on yellow legal pads. From the very beginning, he wanted to know what the customers purchased, what inventory was selling and what stock was not selling. Wal-Mart now “tracks on an almost instantaneous basis the ordering, shipment, and delivery of literally every item it sells, and that it requires its suppliers to hook into the system, enabling it to track most goods every step of the way from the time they’re made and packaged in the factories to when they’re carried out store doors by shoppers.” “Wal-Mart operates the world’s most powerful corporate computing system, with a capacity (as of late 1999) of more than 100 terabytes of data (A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes, or roughly the equivalent of 250 million pages of text.).

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling Of African Americans

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    It's dark out. The street remains quiet and the sounds of the city have faded. A woman walking down the street crosses, her heels thumping against the sidewalk. As she walks further into the night she feels a presence upon her. Suddenly the worries of the day have escaped her mind. All she can think about was the increasing echo of heavy footsteps behind her. Heart beating, she skips along the street, heels thumping with every step. She reaches a stoplight, and her heels come skidding to a stop. Her chest is aching and she's beginning to accept her fate, when, the man steps into the light with her. At first she looks away, praying that he won’t choose her as his next victim. As the seconds vanish, she decides to turn, to take a peek at the man breathing quietly beside her. Her brown hair whips around her shoulder and she clutches her handbag studying the man. It was difficult to make out his face in the poorly lit corner, but as she examined him she took note of his shiny blue eyes and light complexion. Without delay, her shoulders relax, and she releases the tight grip

    Read More

  • My Mother's Car Accident

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    My eyes were deteriorating fast since I started using Tumblr. Driving to school past the park I came to terms it was autumn my favourite season: Trees almost naked with every branch bare, hearing the sound of rustling when people stomping through a crowd of crunchy leaves, though when the wind breathes it accelerates a leafy tornado swirling in a circular motion, smelling a fresh batch of rain from minutes ago and seeing the glistening as the biggest star made I admired. I use to walk to school every morning before my mum left us. Dropping Kaylee off at school I took a right turn where Jessica insisted to meet by the cascade fountain. I parked and by squinting my eyes I could already see she was dressed impressively kooky today. A jacket duplicating the print of a burgundy floral couch, vintage purple satin blouse with J’s scattered all over in different colours, an eagle bolo tie, the stripy snazzy saffron skirt, suede slip on shoes and to compliment her rouge knitting glasses someone had gifted. She ran to me.

    Read More

  • My Favorite Place

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    My favorite place as a child was County Park Lake. When we had family picnics because we all got together and there was great food and kids playing and the adults playing horse-shoes and could tell there was love for one another. There was no other place like this when I was a child. Some of my fondest memories was at that picnic site we should all have memories likes those.

    Read More

More about My Favorite Place Of The Grocery Store

Open Document