We Are Fixin' To Rain Hard In Fort Worth & Make Macaroni & Cheese

You are looking out my rain covered windshield, heading west on John T. White Road, in far east Fort Worth, coming up on 1 in the afternoon.

I aborted any planned walk soon after leaving here around noon, due to drips starting to fall. I headed to Krogers to find cheese for whole wheat macaroni and cheese that I had a hankerin' to make.

To you Yankees reading this, hankerin' is Texan for "wanting" or "craving" something.

I knew we were in for some predicted rain, but I thought its arrival was not til later in the day, along with a drop in temperatures. Yesterday it got in the 70s, was 65 at midnight and 64 when I managed to have a semi-pleasant swim this morning. It is 53 out there right now, so our predicted temperature drop has arrived.

It is downpouring out there now. I grow concerned for my favorite Haltom City corespondent and the killer creeks she monitors whenever they go into potential flash flood mode.

Krogers was my first stop on my cheese hunt, that ended at Wal-Mart. I saw, well, actually smelled, and saw, something at Krogers which made me sort of homesick. I'll tell you about that later. Right now I'm fixin' to satisfy my hankerin' for macaroni and cheese.

To be clear, fixin' is Texas speak meaning you are about to do something. If you damn Yankees would make more of an effort to learn the language us Texans wouldn't find you so annoying.

With Egg On Their Faces No More Krogers

I have mentioned before I do not like Krogers. Too many price mistakes. Over and over again. The last time I mentioned this, some naive sort, apparently not familiar with Texas, reminded me that Krogers gives you a refund if they make a price mistake.

Yes. Previously I have brought a mistake to the attention of the minimum wage moron who mans the customer service. I've actually done this twice. The first time the woman was so befuddled by what I was pointing out to her that I gave up.

I then wrote a letter to Krogers complaining about that incident and their horrible customer service and chronic price mistakes. About a month later Krogers sent me a $15 gift card. That sort of mitigated my aggravation. A little.

The second time that I bothered to complain was over a 2 for 1 pricing scheme that did not ring up as 2 for 1. Once more when I went to customer service I was confronted with befuddlement. This time I said, just give me my money back. And so she did, but she had trouble counting it.

And now to today's FINAL time of ever trying to buy anything at Krogers. Earlier today I'd forgotten to get eggs while I was at Wal-Mart. I needed them for French Toast in the morning. I remember seeing a Krogers special ad at the bottom of this morning's Dallas Morning News. The ad had a dozen large eggs for 88 cents. The ad also had mangoes 3 for $1 and red grapes for 88 cents a pound.

Since Krogers is right across the street I figured I'd take 5 minutes and go get eggs, some mangoes and some grapes. Three items. Krogers can't screw that up, I thought, despite having something screw up with Krogers when I've only tried to buy one item.

So, I pick up 2 dozen eggs. I head to the mangoes. They were green, hard and not worth 33 cents. I find the grapes. These did not look like grapes I wanted in my house.

So, I go to the self-checkout. I scan the first dozen eggs. They ring up as $1.29. I figure, okay, sometimes Krogers doesn't calculate the "real" price til you hit the pay button. I scan the next dozen and then hit the pay button.

The total did not rec-calculate the eggs at 88 cents a dozen. I looked for the person who manages the self-checkout lines. She'd run off. I was not going to pay $1.29 a dozen eggs, particularly after I saw the HUGE handmade sign by the eggs saying "Large Eggs 88 Cents Dozen."

I was not going to waste my time going through the buying process and then going to customer service to deal with a mouth breathing minimum wage moron in a futile, frustrating, maddening attempt to get my money back.

So, I just decided to walk away and leave the eggs behind. I don't know what happened, really, I truly don't, but as I went to exit, somehow, something snagged the bag of eggs and they tumbled to the floor. As I swiftly exited I looked over my shoulder to see some yellow stuff oozing out.

I feel real bad about that.

I feel so bad, I will never waste my time in Krogers again.

Kroger: Right Store Wrong Price

A Kroger is walking distance from where I live. Albertsons is across the street. Rock throwing distance away. Albertsons was the worst of the grocery stores when I lived in the northwest. I was appalled to move to Texas and have people tell me Albertsons was the best grocery store in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone.

I was also appalled to learn, a couple years ago, that Krogers bought Fred Meyers. Fred Meyers is/was a very good, huge department store, that also has/had a good grocery section. Fred's was based in Portland. The Fred Meyers I once knew is no more. It has been Krogerfied.

One of the reasons I do not like either Albertsons or Krogers is the frequency of price mistakes. Never in my favor. Krogers used to have a money back guarantee if the price rings up wrong sign prominently displayed. I don't see that sign anymore.

When the price was wrong I used to enjoy going to customer service and getting my money back and thus the item for free. But that is way too much bother. I get my satisfaction now by Blogging about the bad store.

So, this morning I went to my nearby Super Wal-Mart. I forgot to get popcorn. Air popped popcorn is my dinner most evenings. So, a few minutes ago, with evening rapidly approaching, I did what I don't like to do and went to my nearby Krogers to get popcorn. And cheese. Kroger is one of those annoying stores that has a "Reward" card. Krogers calls theirs "Krogers Plus Shopper's Card." Albertsons dropped the card idiocy, earning points with me. But I still don't shop there.

So, the popcorn had one of those "Krogers Plus" card signs saying that with your "Krogers Plus" card the popcorn was 2 for $3. Regularly $1.99. The cheese was 3 for $5 with the card.

So, I got only 2 items. The popcorn scanned at $1.99, not the expected $1.50. I pondered calling 911 to report the robbery. I've seen shoplifters arrested at this Krogers. I think the Kroger manager should do some hard time in the local pokey.

Ironically, just last week I was in the same Krogers, getting milk. The person with me saw something perceived to be a good buy due to the "Kroger Plus" thing saying it was a certain price. I said, you can't trust anything you see in Krogers, it's messed up half the time. Which tonight, turned out to be precisely accurate.

Kroger: Wrong Store Wrong Price

An Albertsons is across the street from where I live. I don't get my groceries at Albertsons for the same reason I didn't shop at Albertsons when I lived in Washington. Because of a chronic problem with prices being wrong. And always in Albertsons favor.

A Krogers is about 2 blocks from where I live. When I'm in a hurry I'll go to Krogers. But Krogers is as bad, if not worse, than Albertsons with the price mistake problem.

This morning I wanted to make French Toast. I needed eggs. I was in a hurry so I went to Krogers. I only got eggs, bacon and orange juice. 3 items. On the shelf the sticker indicated the bacon was $2.99 with your Kroger Card.

But it rang up at $3.99 with 50 cents off, making it $3.49.

Krogers used to have a big sign telling you if the price rang up wrong you'd get the item for free. I've gone through that a few times at Krogers. You get to deal with a vacant-eyed teenager in customer service who has a real hard time understanding what you're complaining about.

So, today I was in a hurry. I saw two especially vacant-eyed looking teenagers at the customer service desk. It was not worth it to me to spend a half hour to get some free bacon.

I figured I'd get my revenge by blogging about Krogers. And in doing so I found I'm not the only one who has noticed Krogers has a chronic problem with the prices on the shelves not being the price you pay.

As in here you can read about another person's bad experiences with Krogers.

I may complain about Wal-Mart every once in awhile. But I buy most of my groceries at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart rarely makes a price mistake. When I catch Wal-Mart making a mistake, more often than not, it is in my favor. So, I don't complain.

Locked & Loaded

A couple nights ago at my local neighborhood Krogers, that's a grocery store for you who live in non-Krogers zones, an armed robber waved his gun and instructed the store's on-duty cop and all the customers in the self-checkout area to lay down on the floor, face down, with their hands behind their back. The robber forced an employee to open a safe. There was 50 dollars inside. Only 50 dollars. It was past midnight. The thief escaped into the night while all the victims ran out the back of the store, calling 911 as they ran. As of today, the armed robber remains at large.

So, last night, about 6, I took off to go to the aforementioned Krogers. And what was on my door but a warning in the form of a piece of paper. We have a Neighborhood Watch System here. The notice said, in part:

"Dear Residents,
This letter is to notify you of criminal activity that has been reported in the immediate area. Two unknown young black males dressed in dark hoodies are approaching people with a black gun & yellow pistol grips demanding wallets, cash, jewelry, cell phones or anything of value. They approach the victims while they are on foot, walking from a car to a breezeway while walking alone. The criminal activity has been reported on Oakland Hills Drive, Ederville Road, Brentwood Stair Road, Boca Raton Blvd. and Pacific Place."

Let's see, I live on Boca Raton, Brentwood Stair Road is where I had a flat tire a couple weeks ago, in a bad neighborhood, Oakland Hills Drive is the road I took to Oakland Hills Park yesterday, I'm looking at Ederville Road from my window.

Basically I am doomed.

So it was quite fortuitous that today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram's sports page had an ad that touted "Cheaper Than Dirt" firearms. Among the guns on sale at the dirt cheap prices are an AK 47 assault rifle and a Thompson 1927A, that's a "Tommy Gun" to you non-gun aficionados, you know a machine gun like gangsters used back in the Prohibition years. With this being an area of the United States where many remnants of Prohibition are still in place I guess it makes sense to be selling "Tommy Guns" to people. At "Dirt Cheap" prices.

I can't wait to get me one.

Wild Wild West

Last night the phone rang just as I was getting ready to go to Krogers to get a gallon of milk (skim, $3.50). It was Lulu. I put her on speaker phone so I could continue putting on pants and shoes. Lulu stayed with me as I left my place and headed to my van. These are like little virtual trips to Texas for Lulu, a world away from her idyllic paradise in the shadow of Mount Rainier.

As I drove into the Krogers parking lot I saw a Fort Worth police cruiser pulling in, lights flashing, siren blaring. As I got out of the van I saw the cop slowly approaching the store. As I got closer to the entry I saw a huddle of people around a woman, a slightly obese stereotypical Texas woman looking a tad unkempt. As the cop approached her she put up her arms in the position you see on TV when a cop puts on the handcuffs. Apparently she had had experience with the procedure. On the ground in front of the woman was a spilled grocery bag that seemed to have spilled out what looked like pharmacy type products.

Within a couple minutes I'd bought my milk and was exiting the store, still talking to Lulu. I'm quite the multi-tasker, able to talk on the phone while going through the self-checkout. When I stepped back outside I was surprised to see that the incident had escalated. There were now 5 polices cruisers with lights flashing, with an equal number of officers. There was a fire truck with firefighter emergency guys doing something to the woman who had wanted handcuffs that looked like some sort of tubing, as if she was on an intravenous drip. She was sitting on the ground, conscious, no handcuffs.

It was quite noisy and must have sounded dire and scary to Lulu who was screaming something along the line of "what sorta hell hole do you live in?" I explained it was not a hell hole, it was east Fort Worth, Fort Worth, known locally as Where the West Begins, with that wild west tradition held up regularly by incidents like the one last night at Krogers.

I was almost back to my van when I saw a MedStar ambulance drive by. I said to Lulu I think they called in an ambulance but it missed the entry. I saw it then turn around and head into the parking lot.

I saw nothing in the morning Star-Telegram about last night's incident. Just like I never saw anything about an incident of a couple days ago when I returned from hiking Tandy Hills Park to see 2 female cops, slowly making their way to a closed dry cleaner, guns at the ready, speaking into those shoulder communication devices you see on cop shows.

I've grown used to the occasional notice being put on my door telling me there has been yet one more armed robbery in the neighborhood, advising that caution be taken when out after dark. Since I've been in Texas I've happened upon one murder scene, after the fact, several murders have occurred in my neighborhood, including that nationally reported one of a few years back where a woman, I think it was a woman, ran into someone who got stuck in her windshield, so she drove home and parked in her garage and left the victim to slowly die. And then got rid of the body. I think, if I remember right, her defense was she was tired and didn't notice the man stuck in her windshield til a few days later.

I probably should get a gun and holster if I'm gonna keep living here. Or some mace. Can the general public buy tasers?