My father prefers the “poor people Kroger” more than the “rich people Kroger,” as he calls them.  Let me explain how I came to know the difference.  (By the way, I’m going to leave you guessing which Kroger stores I am referencing — might be an interesting exercise for you!)  Needing to complete an errand in addition to looking after my 90 year old father, I took him to his favorite destination — the grocery store, but I chose to take him to a different Kroger than his customary one.  I noted that he grew more agitated as we headed out toward our destination.  “Oh, we’re going to the ‘rich people Kroger,’ aren’t we” he said suspiciously and with “attitude” laced with disapproval.  I noted my reasons why and as we arrived began to look around to see the difference between his preferred Kroger and this one.

The “rich people Kroger” is of course much larger.  It has a Starbucks with abundant seats that he observed made it look like a church.  (He didn’t say if that was good or bad but I know that when the preacher visited our house as I was growing up he would always head out the back door!) It is, I have to admit, more homogeneous and in my opinion in an admittedly unscientific observation:  a lot “whiter.”  When he couldn’t find the items he wanted (how could you find groceries in a church!), I gave in and took him to “his” preferred Kroger.  As we tooled around — he leaning on the shopping cart, I realized that indeed it was a different cultural experience.  For one thing, I didn’t feel nearly as self-conscious sharing with every shopper in the store at the top of my lungs the location of milk, ice cream and orange juice — all announcements directed to my hearing-challenged father and coming directly off his shopping list.

I noted the tendency of the “bag” guys to tell their life story, if given half a chance .  In the bathroom I was  delightfully detained as I heard the trials and tribulations of one employee’s attempts to find her Kroger logo’ed shirt at 5:00 a.m. after the alarm had failed to go off on time and the kids had to be dressed and her husband need to get to work and … well you get the picture.

The “rich people Kroger” is different indeed but is that a fair label — it sounds negative, doesn’t it?  I don’t know.  I know my father grew up poor in eastern Kentucky.  He loves Wal-Mart and Meier so that size doesn’t exactly explain his choices.  I could spend precious time trying to figure it all out but likely to no avail.  In the meantime, I don’t plan to mess with him any time soon.  At ninety, he can go anywhere he wants for any reason.  I’ll gladly escort him there.