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Posted 4/7/21

No curbside pickup! I’m even more excited about spring this year than I usually am. I am an avowed winter hater, and it was refreshing to have a healthy dose of spring weather over the weekend. And …

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Posted

No curbside pickup!

I’m even more excited about spring this year than I usually am.

I am an avowed winter hater, and it was refreshing to have a healthy dose of spring weather over the weekend. And I did my best to take advantage of it. We had most of the McLoone Clan home for the weekend, and we took advantage of the nice weather.

I made sure I snuck up before everyone else Saturday to get some cleanup work done in our outdoor gathering space. I added another grill/smoker to my collection last week, and I learned something about curbside shopping last week. I don’t like it.

I had been looking at a couple different models of outdoor cooking units. I ordered one from a large retail operation, and I was told I could pick it up Sunday afternoon. It turns out, I couldn’t. Upon arrival, I was told that only one of the model of smoker I ordered had been in stock. Before it was taken off the floor for my pickup, someone else came and bought it.

That same grill wasn’t available anywhere else in Wisconsin or Minnesota.

So, I bought one that’s a little bigger than what I need. Bigger is better, right? I was slated to pick it up at a different outlet of that same big retailer. I’ve never done any curbside shopping before, officially at least. I was new to it. I figured I would make it easy on them, so I went into the store and told them I was there to pick up my order.

“You have to go back outside,” I was told. “Pull around back and they will bring it to you. It’s contactless.”’ So much for doing my deed for the day. I hopped back in my trusty minivan and wheeled around to where about 20 other people were waiting for stuff.

And waiting. And waiting. There were people who obviously feared COVID-19, so they do their shopping there. Next to me and directly in front of me were people wearing their masks in their cars, obviously afraid they were going to get COVID from the car radio.

There were people too lazy to walk inside. I would think that driving out of your way to this store because you don’t want to have to walk 40 steps into a store to get your stuff would be a good alternative. The guy to the left of me went through about twothirds of a bag of Doritos while he was waiting. Hopefully he bought more!

And there was at least one very impatient guy who was there for one thing that he very easily could have wheeled out all by himself, but they wouldn’t let him.

Cars came and cars went, and then I saw my prize being wheeled my way. The box was about twice as big as the kid who was supposed to pick it up and put it in the back of my van. Per COVId-19 protocol, I let him try before I got out to help. It was breaking the rules, but I loaded it myself.

That was my first and last experience with curbside service!