visit to an over-priced grocer

It's the perfect blue-sky day.

I go to Eli's, a local gourmet grocer. 

I rarely shop there, as the prices are astronomical. I 'm sure there is a team of people in the back who do the pricing.

"Hey, wanna make these heirloom tomatoes $10.95/pound and see if anyone buys them?" 

"Ya, ya, I know. They're $6.95 over at Agata's, but I don't think our customers care."


"I'm going to price the avocados at $5.99 each. They''re perfectly ripe and ready to go. I know it's a lot, but how much you wanna bet they'll sell?"

"Do you think people will pay $11.99 for a box of local strawberries? I think they will; let's try it."

I need an ingredient that I can't find anywhere, and that's what brings me to Eli's today.

And yes, they of course have the product I'm looking for. It's a great store if you can ignore their pricing.

All the customers are dutifully masked, but not the employees.

I see two Eli workers with masks around their necks (one of them is a manager), and I see a third who's in the prepared food section and appears to have no mask anywhere near her.

I'm so tired of getting irritated at people who don't follow the mask rule  It's a simple one, and we all know it works.

I leave Eli's and stop in a little open seating area between First and Second on 79th Street.  There are chairs and tables set up, lots of sun, a few trees, and even fewer people. 

I sit six-feet from someone and ask f it's okay if I remove my mask. She nods in the affirmative.

I sit down, remove my mask, then throw my head back into the bright sunlight.

And for a few minutes, I enjoy our lost world. 

As opposed to those workers at Eli's who are still living in it.