#15

Right. I've just been shopping to the supermarket with my Mother. Now don't get me wrong... I love my Mum but going shopping with her takes considerable patience and humility.

Why patience? Patience is required when she compares products at great length... if for example if she wants a can of tuna she will get a can of tuna from one manufacturer in one hand and a can of tuna from another manufacturer in the other hand and will read every thing on the cans, a section at a time, holding them both-up and looking at one then the other... seemingly for ages... considering value for money, quality, ingredients...considering... looking at the pictures, looking at the shape of the can, inspecting the seams and seals... considering and considering.

Why Humility? This is because my Mum has bad hips and general joint problems, and she finds pushing the super market trolley very helpful in getting around the store -- she can use it to lean-on for support. It's a very good idea -- she feels less decrepit than if she was walking round the store with a walking stick... but it has one side effect: i.e.: that anyone seeing me (6'2" of perfectly functioning strong long-legged biped) strolling along side her putting things in the trolley, must think I'm one hell of a bastard to 'make' my 87 year old mother push round a bulging shopping trolley while I'm empty handed and unencumbered.

Well at least I managed to stop her getting manipulated by a classic supper market scam. When trying to find her favorite spread (margarine-butter-y type stuff) it was not available in the usual, sane, medium size. But surprise surprise, they did have it in an absolutely huge size or a really small totally uneconomical size. Does that scenario sound familiar? Don't tell me you have not realised this is a scam! Don't try and tell me that a huge supermarket with all their buying power and smooth-running computerized stock control system, ran out of a product for which there is pretty-much a constant unchanging level of demand for? Ha! Pull the other one. And you're going to tell me next that it's a co-incidence that there also happens to be a glut of an equivalent spread in just the size you want that no one seems to be buying.... but guess what, this alternative spread happens to be the 'store's own brand' ... hmmm, interesting that, isn't it??? Watch out for this scam, DON'T BE MANIPULATED!! Go to another store, do with-out for a week, or buy an alternative that is not the one they are trying to manipulate you into buying. Otherwise you're their bitch int you?

I'm sure many of you remember the scam about 20 years ago when one or more supermarkets started to make the jars of their 'own brand' coffee the same colour scheme, and similar shapes, and the popular established brands so that you could easily pick-up their own brand coffee by mistake....ah but it didn't stop there though, because shortly after then for a period of about 6 weeks, every time I approached where the coffee was, there was an empty shopping trolley, seemingly innocently left in-front of the genuine branded coffee, so that it was just that little bit easier to pick-up their own brand by mistake (which was positioned right along side the genuine brands, unobstructed)! They did this with the bran flakes once too, and even I got duped! Upon realising my mistake when I got home I decided to put up with it just this once and try their brand (just like they wanted me to the bastards), but the bran flakes were so hard that when trying to munch a mouth-full of them, one of the flakes slashed my gum! So let that be a lesson to you. Buy super market 'own brands' by all means if you prefer them, but don't be manipulated into buying them by those bastards... you've got a mind of your own haven't you? Don't let them make you their bitch!!!

Needless to say that just after I have been to a super market any trolleys that were 'innocently left' about in this way will have been repositioned in front of their ghastly 'own brands'. Ha! Take that you bastard super markets.