The Price of Groceries
She swept the milk, eggs, flour and sugar one by one across the counter, punched each price into the cash register, and hit the total button. Our receipt churned out in a curl. She glanced at us and pressed another button. The receipt lengthened to include a blank space at the bottom. With a quick flick of the wrist, she ripped the receipt away, pressed it against the edge of the counter, and tore off the blank space at the bottom. In that space, she wrote down our family name and the total amount we owed. On the wall behind her, she taped it in a place for others to see. She handed us the remaining part of our receipt and we walked out with our groceries.
Growing up in Cincinnati in the 70s was hard for a number of families. Our industries were opened up to global competition. We were not ready. A number of them collapsed. Skills which had taken years to acquire became obsolete. Jobs were scarce. My family and other families struggled through the long and painful adjustment. Shopping at our neighborhood grocery store, Tom’s Grocery Store, was just one example. It did not happen all the time, but it happened. Indeed, it’s an example of one of the many unspoken costs of unemployment.