I just lost my job, and I just ran out of groceries too. Damn. Out of all the things that I overplan, overthink, and overcompensate for, not having a job was definitely one of the things I should’ve planned a bit better. Why didn’t I think this would happen sooner than later? How many times have I seen the news about huge layoffs from a plethora of different companies? Ugh, I should’ve paid more attention to the news. Now I have groceries, rent, and bills to think about without any form of actually paying for them.
I don’t know whether I should cry, scream, yell, or lie down, but hell if I’m going to just stay here and feel sorry for myself, I might as well make myself useful and get food from the Whole Foods place.
I still have enough to pay rent for a few months thankfully, but who knows what the hell I’m going to do or find in the meantime. Hell, I can be on the street before I know it! I can be one of those crazy people that just stands around the subway!
Speaking of which, there’s a homeless man who’s standing by the Whole Foods door. He’s nice enough to open the door, good. Unfortunately, I don’t have any cash on me. I wish I could give him something, especially since he seems so nice. Oh well, I’d better just keep on with my groceries then. I just have to remind myself to get a couple of things, just enough to get on by. Some spinach, some eggs, yogurt, cream cheese, chicken, and of course plantains.
I forget how much spinach I should really get. I usually get one stock, but then it just ends up running out in just a few days. I would get two, but then it doesn’t even fit inside the damn bag. Why is spinach like this? It takes up so much space, then becomes the smallest thing ever once it hits the pan. They should sell pre-cooked spinach, I can’t be bothered to cook it all the time.
At least the eggs are pretty straight forward. A dozen eggs barely lasts me a week. Two dozen eggs feels like I’m just throwing away money. Now one and a half dozen, although an annoying size for sure, has got to be the best size. Not too much, not too little. Just perfect.
I don’t even bother looking at which yogurt I get. Everytime I just sit and think about which flavor would be the best for my palette for this week, the fifteen minute grocery trip extends to twenty minutes, or sometimes even forty. So long as it’s big, it’s good for me. Same with cream cheese, except I never get the sticks. I always confuse them for butter. Speaking of which, I should get a couple of blocks…
Jesus Christ, why is the meat so expensive though? Why are six pieces of chicken thighs thirteen bucks!?!? How the hell can anyone respectfully be fine with this?? Still, I have to eat something, ugh. Maybe something to drink would put me out of my anger.
Let me look around here. What’s this? Coconut water? It’s apparently high in electrolytes… why not? I mean now that I think about it, all these different methods of creating liquids or forms of hydration are kind of weird in retrospect. What exactly is a Gatorade? It’s not just sugar and water with electrolytes, is it? What kind of weird mushy kinds of chemicals are in there? Does it explode if you add a bit of nitrate to it? Does it expand into a foam if there’s a bit of an off-balance of oxygen? Is it really hydrating people in any capacity? What makes people sure that we can even trust whatever floats around in this particular thing? Wait. What about the coconut water? Does it have any extra stuff? I hope not. I can’t find the ingredient list on this thing, so I’m just going to assume it’s mostly coconut water. And sugar. Probably lots of sugar.
I think that’s about everything though. I shouldn’t be getting this coconut water in the first place, but it should be fine, right? This first week of unemployment is going to be rough, so I might as well treat myself, at least before I can’t pay rent anymore. This line is so long though. There’s this family in front of me with a shopping cart full of groceries. They’re so lucky. I can see marshmallows, Hershey’s, graham crackers, jerky, protein bars, cereal, salmon, steak… might as well just get caviar if you’re going to wave around your wealth like that.
Finally, it’s my turn to pay. The cashier seems sort of nice. Oh God, anytime I see that price go up, it’s like a dagger to my wallet, felt by my heart and gut. How much do I have left in my account? Let’s see… sixty-seven dollars and thirty-two cents. What about the price of the groceries? Man. The price just keeps going up. It’s at fifty-four and seventeen cents. Oh God. The chicken is still left… Oh. Ok. The chicken wasn’t actually thirteen bucks. It was only eight. Thank God. I thought I would have to tap into my savings already. Alright, good.
That was a close call, I was about to be really worried, but I’m more worried about this family in front of me thinking that I’m creep trying to sneak up on them. Thing is, it’s their fault for walking so slow. Why do they think it’s a good idea to walk like they’re doing a runway? What are they laughing about? Whatever. I bet they’re too posh to care about how to pay rent anyways. I’m just hoping I can pass them so I can just get home. Can’t believe the homeless guy is still at the door though. Doesn’t seem like the family is going to give him any money, yet something is off about this family. They’re just standing there, looking at each other for any spare change. Great, now the little kid grabbing the snacks from the cart, what is he going to do with that-
Oh. Wow. The kid is so nice. He just gave the guy a bunch of snacks. Huh. They finally moved now, and the guy actually seems so thankful. I thought he was going to flip out and ask for money. Hmm. Maybe I’m not so thirsty after all. Hell, I don’t even like coconut water. I’ll give it to the guy. He needs it more than I do. That makes me feel a bit better about myself. Maybe I was just being a dick.
Alright, now that I’m in the subway, I may feel like I should’ve kept the coconut water. This underground heat is no joke. But I did the right thing. I have water at home, with a filter nonetheless, so I shouldn’t really be complaining.
Now that I’m home, my place feels a bit bigger now. I might not have all the things I want, but I definitely have my needs covered. I’m fine, I’m good. Now to put away these groceries, and figure out what I’m going to have for dinner. Thankfully I got the eggs, that’s good for protein. I got the cream cheese and butter, how else am I going to add some flavor? I got the chicken and the yogurt, although those don’t really match. Finally I got the spinach, and…
Fuck. I forgot the goddamn plantains. Time to go back, I guess.
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