Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Target Tales #1: Hand Sanitizer Search

Target Tales are stories or poems from my observations of and interactions with fellow shoppers at the retail store Target. 

"It's NOT here," shouted a woman with a voice that's seen a lot of whatever she was looking before.

"What???" questioned an older gentleman.

"I said, IT'S NOT HERE!"

I continued down the central aisle and found the source of the loud shouting, I mean conversation—an elderly couple, pushing a cart down the handsoap aisle.

"But it should be by the soap. It's hand sanitizer. Jenny told us to buy it," said the older gentleman.

"I know Bob. I heard her, too, but we can't buy it if it's not here."

Hand sanitizer was my Target list too. The hand sanitizer was hiding at the end cap of the hand soap aisle.

As their conversation continued, I tuned out and stared at the options in the bins before me. Small travel-sized bottles. Blue goo and green too. A peach variety and original unscented. I wanted to choose a scented sanitizer but decided on the generic unscented one. Why this choice? I thought ironically; the hand sanitizer would probably be the products that held the most significant number of germs on them in the entire store, with so many people picking bottles up at Target to combat the recent Coronavirus U.S. outbreak and its news coverage. I decided unscented was the best option because selecting it involved the least amount of touching the bottles.

The woman saw me and her back straightened.

"Bob. That lady over there has some."

"What?" called Bob.

"I said THAT LADY OVER THERE HAS SOME BOB," hollered the woman.

The couple shuffled over to the hand sanitizer and additional hand soap aisle.

I smiled at the couple as they moved closer to me.

The woman smiled back.

She looked up and down and noticed that there were only travel-sized bottles.

"Bob, they only have those tiny bottles. We need big ones."

"Why? We can just buy a bunch of those small ones."

At this point, I asked, "Do you need some help?"

The woman said, "No, you aren't wearing a red shirt. You don't work here."

I replied, "You're right, I don't, but I'd be happy to help you."

"Thanks, but no thanks. You've got places to go," as she turned back to discuss the bottle-size dilemma, Bob.

I smiled, and although I had no place in particular to go, said, "Well, then have a nice day."

They didn't reciprocate the farewell because, at that point, Bob had asked her what I asked his wife. 

I hope they found the big bottles of hand sanitizer for their peace of mind and Jenny's too.

24 comments:

  1. Wow! That’s some story from the aisles of Target. I adore the way you captured their conversation. I could feel how tense they were the whole time including when they dismissed your help since you were devoid of a red shirt.
    Truly a slice of 2020 life!

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    1. I'm glad their tension came across! And when this scene unfurled at Target, I was truly surprised by their lack of wanting help, but as you said Stacey, their stress might have been in the way. This can happen to all of us at times. We're so focused that we can't realize accepting help would ease our burdens.

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  2. You are lucky! I haven't been able to find any hand sanitizer where I live (Seattle area). I'm just glad that daughter has Chlorox wipes to share with me from Costco. There were no wipes, no hand sanitizer, and no cold remedies when I went to Costco yesterday.

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    1. Ramona, I can send some your way. ;) But in all seriousness I do know, especially for you and your fellow Seattleites, I'm sure the shelves are one way in which the Coronavirus has shown its power. Glad you've got some good connections to what you need...family and Costco. Wishing you well.

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  3. Fortunately we live far from where hand sanitisers are a priority, but people do tend to panic and the media is to blame. Really like how you've written your piece today, we're right there in the store with you and that old couple!

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    1. Thanks Ramona! I appreciate your support and feedback. Glad you could feel like a fly on the wall during my recent Target trip.

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  4. Oh my! I can totally hear the couple’s conversation and imagine their voices sounding irritated with each other and possibly the world. I can also picture Jenny. She probably was innocently suggesting they pick some up and now she will be on the receiving end of some barking about how hard it was to find, how there was no one around to ask for help, etc. Smiling over here...thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Robin! I'm so glad my piece made you smile. I thought the same of poor Jenny. Hoping she's not on the receiving end of their struggle to find the sanitizer and hoping she may be able to help ease some of their worries.

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  5. I probably shouldn’t laugh at the old couple, but I did. People go berserk and lose all sense of sanity and propriety when they should behave like rational humans. The dialogue is fantastic here. Also love your descriptions. Our nearest target is fifty miles away, but I rarely shop there, and I haven’t even thought about buying hand sanitizer. I really hate the stuff. Maybe next time you should wear red to Target.

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    1. Glenda I just might need to sport a red shirt on my next Target visit. Ha! The couple made me smile too. Although they might have been getting on one another's nerves in that moment, I'm sure there's been many times where they've been able to apply the emotional salve their partner needed.

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  6. I had to read your post because I was recently in the hand soap aisle looking for hand sanitizer to no avail! If I had a Bob I probably would be yelling at him too. You captured this perfectly. Few things give me as much joy as being a fly on the wall during conversations like this!

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    1. Thanks for visiting and I'm so glad you enjoyed being a fly on the wall. I'm sorry you were like Bob and his partner and were unsuccessful in completing your Target list. Hope you were able to find the hand sanitizer elsewhere!

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  7. First off, I love that this Slice is about a Target run in. Second, I felt like I was standing right next to you as you encountered this couple. I love the way you captured the conversation, and the red shirt comment made me laugh at loud! I look forward to more Target stories!

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    1. Thank you! I will definitely be sharing more Target stories. I moved back to the U.S. in August after living the past ten years overseas. Going to Target is still such a treat for me. Wide aisles, English labels, too many choices of all products. It's lovely and overwhelming. As is being surrounded in English again. It's these small observations of American culture and life that I didn't foresee bringing me joy during my repatriation.

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  8. I love the humor in this post - it reminds me of how David Sedaris uses overheard conversations in his writing a lot!

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    1. Thanks Beth! I do love how David Sedaris uses conversational observations too. I believe he says "exploits the people you come into contact with" which is probably a more precise way to explain my writing. I think part of this fascination comes from me having moved back to the U.S. in August of 2019. Before that I lived overseas for ten years and many times couldn't understand all the dialogue around me due to my lack of linguistic abilities. Having the ability to understand many of the small conversations surrounding me is fascinating.

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  9. Oh my, so many stories we can tell from Target. Thanks for capturing this one in a humorous way. I hope that couple stays healthy!

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    1. Thank you! I hope they are healthy too. And yes, Target is the perfect spot to capture daily slices.

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  10. I love how you captured what was going on around you at Target. It reminds me of an interaction I saw at dinner last night. Maybe my next slice ?? :)

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  11. Oh Target! How I love that store. I can picture this exchange exactly. I feel bad for laughing. But I also know that the lady has probably been bugging Bob to get his hearing checked for a while. I'm glad everyone found what they needed, even if it was in small bottles.

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    1. I love how you said, "found what they needed, even if it was in small bottles." I feel like that could make for a great piece of writing. Thanks Lisa, and I do hope Bob will get his hearing checked sometime soon too.

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  12. What a great back and forth conversational slice. Searching for hand sanitizer has been difficult here, too. The CVS clerk told me that the store was waiting for its shipment-everyone was asking during the day. I am glad that your slice was highlighted as a must see.

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    1. Carol, I hope you found some hand sanitizer by now. Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you enjoyed their conversation.

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