K-Roger, Over and Out.

This evening, the roommate and I embarked to our closest Kroger, our favorite grocery chain, which happens to be in a ghetto-ish area of downtown Memphis. We tend to not go to this Kroger alone.

On our first visit there, a strange man followed us around the store but pretended he wasn't following us. He would grab a handful of items, walk away, and come back empty handed, only to repeat the process until we left. Creepy.

On this visit, three peculiar things happened. First, a man wearing your typical scrubs appeared to be shopping. Much like on our first visit, he would gather some items, walk around, but then come back empty handed. Maybe he worked there and was putting the items back on the shelves? Like I said, peculiar.

While we were perusing the frozen food items and contemplating a simple meal for dinner, a police officer came running past us. My roommate looked at me and said, "It's never good when a police officer is running down the frozen food aisle." I said that perhaps we'd be taken hostage right next to the frozen taquitos.

This situation shouldn't be taken lightly, however, as a couple of months ago, a man shot someone in a Kroger in another section of Memphis.

The third peculiar thing that happened occurred as I was picking out 1.6 pounds of ground beef, of the lean variety. Meat selection should also not be taken lightly - you can't mess around with the wrong meat. As I was choosing the proper package, a 25-ish man looked at me and said, "Maybe you should sniff it also." I was so taken aback by his presence and weird comment that I could only garner a small chuckle. What I should have said is, "Finding the right package requires more than a sense of smell."

Grocery shopping is serious business and always an adventure.