Today I was reminded (yet again) of why I don’t shop at Kroger on a regular basis anymore. I went in to pick up a couple of things because I was already in the shopping center at another store. I had to walk with Liam through clouds of smoke created by Kroger employees smoking on the sidewalk that you have to walk down to get inside. I finished as quickly as possible (Liam wasn’t in a cart, so grabby hands made speed even more important than usual) and went over to the self-check line (one of the few things that Kroger has that I wish Publix had) and put my things down to pay when an employee came over and shoved me out of the way to do something underneath the machine. She then huffed off and when I looked up my checkout screen said “Lane Closed” where it had said “Welcome” not 2 seconds earlier. She didn’t say a word to me. The cashiers at Publix know Liam’s name and how old he is and the baggers fall all over themselves to help me take my bags to the car. Game over.