Coworker making me nuts (language)

[Dentarthurdent]

1) You (or someone else) makes an order directly at the store and then arranges for it to be home delivered (basically you shop and pay as normal, but leave the cart). You give them a time frame as to when it can be delivered. If you have a way to get to the grocery store other than by her, I'd try this method if they offer home delivery.

If I'm already in the town two hours away, the only reason for me NOT to bring my groceries home with me is that I don't have a cooler with me, I guess?

[Seshat]

For the second item, I don't even know who sells groceries online, other than Amazon. I will look into it, though.

Google "online grocery shopping" and your state's name. I think you'll be surprised how many options you have.

[AccountingDrone]

Guy behind you pulling on your seatbelt? Sit in the back row.
Limited space? Show up at the van with a cardboard box [I tend to like banker boxes, frequently you can get plastic toters the same size] and pop that into the back. When you get your groceries, unpack the sacks into the toter, the remainder of the sacks sit between your feet and on your lap. Amazing how much you can pack into one of those - we have a couple we use when shopping at BJs [a wholesale place that does not provide bags, just leftover boxes. We prefer our own toters]

And is there a reason you have not yet bought a $500 beater of a car? Or gotten a free beater off Freecycle [we have gotten a couple vehicles from free cycle - one a Buick Riviera that lasted my roomie driving a postal route for 2 years, and a mid 80s Chevy S-10 that is now on its 3d year]

[Dentarthurdent]

And is there a reason you have not yet bought a $500 beater of a car? Or gotten a free beater off Freecycle [we have gotten a couple vehicles from free cycle - one a Buick Riviera that lasted my roomie driving a postal route for 2 years, and a mid 80s Chevy S-10 that is now on its 3d year]

The totes are a good idea. If it comes to that, I'll try it.

I feel like spending $500 on a car is like throwing away $500. I don't know my way around car repair any more than checking the fluids and changing a tire, and around here that's going to net me something that barely runs. Also, finding a spare $500 to rub together is, for 6 months out of every year, an utter impossibility.

[AccountingDrone]

The totes are a good idea. If it comes to that, I'll try it.

I feel like spending $500 on a car is like throwing away $500. I don't know my way around car repair any more than checking the fluids and changing a tire, and around here that's going to net me something that barely runs. Also, finding a spare $500 to rub together is, for 6 months out of every year, an utter impossibility.

Pity you are not closer, I have a 95 jetta with a busted windshield I would gladly give you [if you can drive or were willing to learn to drive a manual] I just don't feel the need to register and insure it as we have the truck, the momvan and the 06 jetta.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

When I was in college I was one of the few students with a car. Being a residential campus in the middle of town there was pretty much bupkiss as far as stores close by, so I was constantly asked for rides everywhere. Grocery trips were probably the most annoying to me, as nobody wanted to go shopping when it was convenient and none of them really wanted to shop together. It annoyed me to the extent that I had to stop and reevaluate what exactly I was doing.

I came to the realization that I either needed to look at it as a business or look at it as doing favors for gas money. Doing it as a business, I would need to adjust pricing and practices a little bit. As favors, I needed to weigh in on the annoyance vs benefit/altruism/"but they're friends" aspect of it all.

I decided I didn't want to be the taxi anymore, but that I would help out on the grocery/sundries issue by basically having a personal shopping service. Students would give me their shopping lists(groceries mostly) and then I'd do the shopping at my convenience and have their goods available as per the arranged schedule. I charged 10% for the service, calculated off their receipt.


Now that the giant backstory is done, my suggestion would be to find someone in one of the easier shopping locations who would be open to an arrangement like my personal shopping service. You might have to come to different arrangements on the exact compensation based on distance driven, etc, but a true business arrangement would be a bit nicer than the drama mamas you seem to be depending on.