Call Out the Instigator, Because There's Something in the Air

Out of the Woods Mini Pizzas 

Coronavirus life gives us many challenges.  Shopping changed overnight as did much of our lives.  From yesterday to today two of my nearby stores is only allowing a certain number of customers to enter, which for Shop and Save, made the line completely unmanageable unfortunately.  I wasn't prepared to wait.   You might be surprised this was not happening much sooner, especially the amount of business these markets do all day, every day.  After making it out of my own retail customer service job alive, I felt complicit in this silent killer by shopping in markets as if these kids and produce managers were immune to this thing.  I realize their contribution but unlike our nurses, doctors and service workers, theirs is not necessarily voluntary.  The last visit, I thanked the cashier and he about took my head off with one look and that drove my point home, that we are part of the problem, shopping in these establishments.  Limiting customers is a good thing, and I would have been happy to do it sooner, otherwise I was going to start tipping and I do try to go at odd times.  Many stores have already done this, so it's also on the small businesses to make the call and not wait until someone dies or gets deathly ill.  It's the right thing to do.  You still have the problem of the cashiers dealing with the same number of people.  But as we look to the future, taking out each dangerous element of the human contact, we're left with a brand new shopping experience.  I envision self checkout only and a couple of humans in hazmat suits possibly for troubleshooting.  But it takes a lot of people to maintain even the smallest market with restocking and cleaning.  This new world poses a lot of opportunity for new ideas.

Yesterday, I realized another but less important issue.  What you set out to shop for, may not be available so you need to be flexible and now that time in the store is limited, you need to have a plan B at the ready, not make people wait while you hem and haw.  Look at it as a real life Chopped Challenge.

I had major cravings. Getting a good pizza delivery was going to cost a ridiculous amount of money, especially since you want to give the drivers a hefty tip in appreciation and to make it worth their while. Instead, I decided to make a homemade pizza.  I needed Almond milk, which is sort of heavy and carrying that plus the only giant sized sack of organic artisan flour available was not possible.  I was able to snag the last two small mozzarella balls though, so I decided to remake my Arnold's Thin sandwich bread mini pizzas.  I could make the sauce, use turkey pepperoni, peppers, onion and mushrooms. What went on the pizzas also went in the salad raw, which was a nice accompaniment and use.