Remember when a trip to the supermarket was nothing more than a boring thing requiring little or no specialized knowledge? You could send your kids into a cart while you did shopping. You always bought the same brands,usually the brands your mother bought. You didn't know about unit pricing,and furthermore,you didn't care. It never occurred to you to read the labels on anything. After all,you'd bought these things a hundred times.  But now,I really look on those days with a feeling of yearn . How innocent we were! How carefree were those trips to the supermarket. No worries. Today a trip to the supermarket is filled with social influence. Every time I buy pork chops I think about the years I'm shaving from my life. I keep a careful eye on the freshness date and examine the tamper-proof packaging. I am victim of that most dangerous social disease:shoppers' panic.  I didn't realize how serious my condition had become until the last time I needed laundry, soap. It seemed simple enough. Just run into the market,grab a box of the old reliable and pay for it. I hadn't planned on discovering Ecover,a new brand of laundry soap. It sat quietly on the shelf right next to my old reliable. "Healthy,gentle but effective. "My respect for it deepened with each new claim as I read the entire package. Then I looked at the price:$5. 69 for 2 pound. $5. 69! I cast a quick glance at the old reliable,still on sale for$1. 39.  Six bucks for laundry soap! These people must be crazy! Who's going to pay six bucks for laundry soap? It's not as though I can't afford it. See,it's concentrated--use less,get more. BUT SIX BUCKS! And the box is made from recycled materials ...This act went on for a solid half hour,after which I left the shelf without any soap at all.  Surely the meat department is most threatening place. Remember what protein was good for you? That's all over.  Every bite you take kills you. I won't even mention meat's moral influence. When all is said and done,we still must eat. I gather up my healthy-cooking oil and my recycled paper towels and head to the checkout counter. Recalling the old days' shopping in the supermarket,the author thinks it was_.
pleasant fresh dangerous crazy