MilSpouse Life
The commissary. The grocery store on military bases. This is where I primarily shop on a weekly basis and I’ve encountered all sorts of things as a military spouse. Here are some of them.
Related: 9 Hidden Ways to Save Money Shopping on Base at the Commissary and Exchange
(Photo by by LCpl Glen Santy, DVIDS)
You know you’re at the commissary when….
…you get the stink eye from a retiree just because you said excuse me. Look Stan, I’m sorry if you’re confused about what salad dressing you want, but I need to get the Italian dressing right in front of you. I said excuse me. I smiled. What more do you want?
…you hear the same music playing whenever you enter the store. I’ve heard Moves Like Jagger, Africa, and Maniac Monday more times than I care to. Is there a Commissary Soundtrack?
…you encounter some cranky baggers. At the commissary you tip the baggers who bring your groceries to the car. Once I handed four dollars to the woman and she gave me the dirtiest look. I felt four dollars was fair because I only had about seven bags. Another time I tried to help the bagger load the bags into my trunk and she slapped my hand! This is why I don’t help with the bags anymore—I don’t want another hand slap. That startled me. I will say, that I’ve also met some polite baggers who are fantastic.
…the lines are long on payday. Or around payday. And there’s only four cashiers working.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Gabriel Bevan/Released)
…the person in front of you is always writing a check when you’re in a hurry. It never fails.
…you’ve nearly died in the parking lot because people are speeding through it. Or elderly people are backing up and not looking first. Or young people are texting and backing up and not looking first.
…oh look, it’s payday and the prices have increased! It happens. The week before cereal was $2.50. Payday? It jumped up to nearly $4.
…you realize you forgot your ID card and the cashier will not let you check out without your ID even though you’re all, “Ma’am, I’m here every week. Remember? I’m the one who buys all the chocolate.” (She still says she cannot check you out. So you have to leave all your items, rush home, and return.)
…when you really need chicken, there are signs that say, “Sorry. Delivery running late. No chicken today.”
…you feel slightly guilty when you pick plastic when the cashier asks what kind of bag you want. You vow to buy more of those cloth re-usable bags for next week but then forget. (But at least you re-use the plastic bags for cleaning the cat box so you aren’t ruining the planet TOO much..)
…the hair/health care aisle is always packed. People take forever to pick up vitamins and shampoo. It’s like an obstacle course getting your cart past everyone.
…you’ve been whacked with one of those car carts for children at least once but you don’t judge, because those things are tough to turn.
…you think you’ve lucked out getting a front row spot…and then realize the spot is reserved for the base commander. Or that it’s Monday and oops, the commissary is closed.
(Photo by Samuel Shore, DVIDS)
Amber Myers is a proud military wife and mother to two kids who drive her to eat lots of chocolate. She blogs over at Airing My Laundry. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
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- I’m Terrible at Being a Military Spouse
LOL – after reading this I have new respect for my mother!! When we lived in the D.C. area, she shopped once a MONTH – at the commissary — for a family of SEVEN! Each of my three brothers ate for two.
We lived off-base, on the Virginia side a bit away from the relatively newly constructed beltway. The only commissary was quite the road trip: a-l-l the way around on the Maryland side – part of the complex of what was then Andrews Air Force Base (long before it merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint Base Andrews In 2009),
All 5 kids were recruited to help bring the groceries into the house once she finally made it back home, We carried in bags and bags and bags – and bags, Always paper – I don’t know if plastic had been invented yet . 🙂 We restocked the kitchen before we headed down to the pantry with the other half of the haul.
Downstairs in our huge kids-gets-separate-bedrooms-to-keep-the-peace home was a windowless space that my brothers nicknamed “the Vault” – because it had a door that actually locked with a key. It would have made any Mormon jealous. Shelves and shelves, of course, but also a huge upright freezer and a second full size fridge. My mother might have been the person responsible for the Pinterest freezer-cooking craze, except that the internet wasn’t around back then. Seriously, this woman could have taught classes to quartermasters.
I’m not sure if she ever experienced push-back from the baggers. She mostly remarked upon how waiting in the long lines encircling the commissary for her turn to retrieve her purchases at the pick up window would try the patience of Job. I doubt that she was eager to relive the memories beyond that.
As you might have suspected from my description above, at the time my Dad was assigned as Congressional Liaison, commissaries weren’t nearly as nice as the one in your pictures. They were more like huge warehouses (think grocery section of a derelict Sams Club). Nobody had to buy in bulk to get the lower prices, but my mother wasn’t the only shopper who did. You had to go to the P.X. for shampoo and vitamins, so bobbing and weaving through that section was never part of her nightmare.
In any case, I didn’t stop by to write a blog-length comment, I just got carried away remembering when. I wanted to let Lauren know how much I love her blog, and that yesterday I linked several of her amazingly upbeat articles to one of mine on my ADD/EFD-focused blog: The Unique Loneliness of the Military Family …. and the isolation of returning vets. Its the fourth in a series I have been writing about what the social scientists are calling “the Loneliness epidemic.” The sudden uptick in traffic for these posts has made me a believer.
From the article: “… any Series about isolation and loneliness would be incomplete without including the particular flavor tasted by the brave men and women who step up to keep us safe at home – and the strain their service puts on their friendships, families, partners and children.”
You can find the post mentioned on the right menubar under LINKS to Most Recent 20 Articles. It should be at or near the top of the list, depending on when you get there. I’d love any input you or your readers might want to add – and will gratefully approve links to other posts covering the topic.
I thank ALL of you for your service.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
– ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
“Downstairs in our huge kids-gets-separate-bedrooms-to-keep-the-peace home was a windowless space that my brothers nicknamed “the Vault” – because it had a door that actually locked with a key. It would have made any Mormon jealous.”
Exactly what are you implying about Mormons?
My mom use to work part-time bagging groceries at the commissary in Florida. She would bring home around $100 all in change. That was before plastic bags. Those paper bags didn’t do too well in the rain.
Yikes, I bet not!
I remember as a kid and my own early years in the AF there being directional arrows on the floor to control the flow of patrons. You think the stink eye was bad for trying to move around someone to get what you need. Try turning your shopping cart down an isle in the wrong direction! 😱😳☠️🤦🏼♀️