A follow-up to The Neighbor.
Before choosing a cart, I scanned the store entrance-way for disinfectant wipes. The four of us were together and whoever pushed the basket would have to clean off any microorganisms before touching the handle. If I reminded the girls to get the wipes beforehand we could avoid my husband saying, “Wait don’t touch that, wipe it first.”
David routinely takes care of sanitizing the cart on shopping trips and rightly so. Did you know that 72% of grocery carts have fecal bacteria on them? Eeew! I’m getting a vision of teething babies slobbering all over the cart handle. Hope their mommies make a habit of sanitizing it.
We noticed that Wal-Mart was out of disinfectant wipes – again. A woman standing near the entrance also looking for them, absolutely refused to take a basket until she got some Sani-Wipes to clean it. Ah, a gal we could identify with.
Not wanting to wait for an employee to refresh the supply, David and I concurred that we only had a couple of items to get – white clown make-up for the costume party and a bag of rice – and that we didn’t need a cart for that.
After picking up the rice and determining that the only costume make-up Wal-Mart had was for face painting, my Wal-mart phobia kicked in. I announced that I was leaving the store to get some air. I handed the bag of Uncle Ben’s and a ten dollar bill to the girls. I asked them to check out and meet their father and me by the truck.
Walking past the check-outs and nearing the exit of the store, my eyes met with a woman who appeared to be waiting for something. It was the lady who wouldn’t touch the cart handle without it being cleaned first. We gave a knowing smile to one another.
David and I left the store. I wonder how long that woman had to wait for Sani-Wipes?
I don’t know about you, but it’s going to be tough not to think about feces the next time I reach for a cart.