Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Sunday, March 07, 2010 2:57:55 PM
Yesterday, the day before payday, our livestock needed to eat so I stopped at Murphy’s Cee Bee on our way home from the Cardiac Club. Sheila’s knees being what they are and as we needed only two items, she trusted me to purchase them. I hurried in, found sacks of cat and dog food which matched my cash and went to the counter. The store was virtually empty. Only one young woman, I believe Amber, was near the cash register.
When Amber rang up the purchase, she asked, “Do those two weigh more than five pounds?” Since my most recent hospital adventures, I’m not supposed to lift anything over five pounds. She knew that and was prepared to carry them out to the car for me. I assured her that they did, adding, “I can cheat a little,” which drew a frown but acceptance.
When I was a child there was a Kroger store on the corner of our street. My mother refused to shop there, walking to a small grocery about six blocks away. She didn’t trust the quality of the food at the chain stores. She claimed small stores were best. As an adult, I ignored her advice, going to the large chains which supplied everything in one stop. That practice began to unravel when I retired. Soon after our return home Sheila was out of pain medication. I took her prescription to Kroger in Dickson, where I routinely shopped and the pharmacy was open on Saturday night. The druggist looked at the prescription and said, “I won’t fill this.” When I asked for the prescription back so I could go elsewhere she refused to give it to me. The result was that Sheila spent the weekend in pain.
After that experience I started shopping, including medications, at Wal-Mart in Dickson, sixteen miles from home. I passed a small grocery in Charlotte but habits are strong: large stores supply everything. Then we had the ice storm. Roads were closed, the county was without electricity. As soon as possible, I went for groceries. Except for Murphy’s Cee Bee everything was closed. So I stopped there.
Murphy’s impressed me. Without electricity, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy and their daughter were serving customers. Customers waited in line by the door and then, when their turn came, were conducted about the store by flashlight to purchase essentials. As I recall, they refused to take time with us for non-essential items such as candy. On our way home I told Sheila that anyone who would go out of their way to help local people in a time of emergency, as the Murphy’s Cee Bee was doing, deserved our business. Consequently, we began dividing our grocery business: some in Dickson, some with Murphy’s in Charlotte. Then came my heart attacks.
When I was first permitted to leave the house begin cardiac rehabilitation, (I was on house arrest for three months after my release from the hospital) Sheila and I began stopping at Murphy’s routinely, on our way home from the hospital. I was still weak and unsteady, so I waited near the door while Sheila shopped. The young women at the cash registers spotted my problems immediately and furnished me with a chair where I could sit, wait for Sheila and watch them work. They carried all groceries out to the car for me – and still do. Three years later, despite changes in personnel, those young women are still watching me.
During these years I grew tired of the drug counter at Wal-Mart. In the name of “efficiency” you turned in your prescription to one person, she passed it to another who discussed it with you and then passed it to another who filled it. Then you went to a cashier and paid. There was a line before every person. They were all very professional, uniformly dressed and uniformly impersonal. The procedure took a half hour or longer. I decided to try a small drug store which had opened in Charlotte. The procedure they preferred was different. Our physician telephoned the prescription and on the way home we stopped in to pick it up. We dealt with one person. I was amused by the worn jeans under the white coats. There was rarely a wait and they were always pleasant. On bad days I simply waited in the car for a few minutes while Sheila went in and picked up the drugs. Now they get all of our drug business.
To that extent possible, small family stores get my business. My mother was right.