Just as I sat down to blog, a text arrived from ASDA. My delivery is 9 stops away and will be here at 8.58. They have no onions. They are sending ordinary fish fingers rather than Omega 3 enriched fish fingers. I never realised, when I was a young boy, that there would be such things as fish fingers that prevented dementia. If I’m realistic, I still don’t. The correct adult helping of fish fingers is four, according to the internet. Four fish fingers, to me, struggles to look like a meal. Even five, as in the picture, leaves a lot of empty space on a plate.
Paprika Potatoes, Fish Fingers and Mushy Peas – Gourmet Fodder
They are sending filtered milk instead of ordinary milk. It appears to be 25p cheaper until you check the quantity – I am only getting half as much so am basically paying twice the price. They will be getting that back. They will also be getting the carrots back – they are sending a kilo of carrots instead of the swede I ordered. I already have a kilo of carrots coming. Apart from the fact that swedes and carrots are different things, who needs two kilos of carrots? I once told a family member that I thought some of the substitutions were worked out by idiots. They told me that they were actually worked out by algorithms. It’s the algorithms that are worked out by idiots.
The driver apologised for being late but he had had to sort out a problem enroute. He called at an address and found nobody in. When he rang the number on the account they told him they had moved and would like him to go two miles away and drop the groceries at a different6 address. He couldn’t do that because it was not the address on the account and it would have set his timings out. So he rang the office for advice, and they weren’t answering the phone. Eventually he had to ring and tell the people he couldn’t deliver. He was a little upset that someone would be without groceries tonight. Me, I’d just have been annoyed that someone had messed me around, but ASDA delivery drivers, to be fair to them, really do care about their customers.
Vegetables – Carsington Water
Well, at least the food you received looks good, even though you didn’t get exactly what you ordered. Not sure about the mushy peas, though… There is only one grocery store where I live, so if they don’t have what I want I have to wait… I am thankful to have plenty of sweet corn and green beans in the freezer from my garden.
Yes, I recall your garden being very productive. Despite closures we have two supermarkets within walking distance ( for Julia, though not for me these days) and three within a short drive. I thought I’d try living in town about thirty years ago and it is so much easier than the country. 🙂
The driver does sound like a saint. I hope he stays with the company for the sake of the customers.
Good drivers are the key requirement for this sort of service.
The driver at least is a saint. With enough fish fingers you could play Janga
Yes, the thought did cross my mind, as did chips cut to the correct dimensions, but I’m not quite sure how to integrate the mushy peas.
Placed for soft landing
We just had fish finger sandwiches, potato wedges and mushy peas tonight. 🙂 They didn’t survive long enough to play Jenga . . . 🙂
🙂
Although I pay a little more at our small Co-op than I would if I got stuff delivered from a supermarket, I feel it is worth it if I can make the decisions about substitutions when an item is unavailable. Algorithms are trained to recognise the needs of the supplier rather than the customer.
I used to have a regular shopping routine – one large shop, one smaller. It was better in a number of ways, but once Covid struck the doctor ordered me to avoid shops and I have done ever since. When we move I may go back to shopping at local shops and shopping in person, but would probably miss the convenience of deliveries. Swings and roundabouts (and laziness . . .)
Our local corner shop delivered daily in response to a phone call during the first Covid lockdown. We may not have first division football or an art gallery, but there are benefits from living in a very small town.
This is true. It’s hard to beat personal service.