Anyone who knows me pretty good knows I experience “freak-outs” in crowded areas, regardless of whether it is people or things doing the crowding. I’ve had episodes at amusement parks, malls, grocery stores, church, etc. A quick anti-anxiety Xanax helps rather quickly, but it’s pretty embarrassing to need to resort to such extents just because of the environment I’m in. Today we had a new experience at the grocery store for a completely unnecessary reason: junk.

Not all stores are created equal, as there are clearly some clothing stores that are 80% inaccessible to shoppers in wheelchairs. If I can’t walk through a section without angling my shoulders, the walkways are not wide enough. I’ve got wide shoulders for my height, but I’m only 5’4″; we’re not talking about Lou Ferrigno here!

The problem today arose from the isles being about 6-8″ too narrow and way too many areas that had displays, racks, or mounds of items in the walkways. For example, between the end of the isles and the refrigerated section along the back wall, there was finally enough room to get 2 carts and a person alongside each other BUT they put a one-foot wire cart with bananas in the middle so only one cart could pass by at a time. If I had a dollar for every time today I had to stop to let someone go first or be a butthead and charge through because I was pissed at getting no where, our groceries would have been free.

Get the junk out of the aisles, read about the ADA walkway regulations, and try pushing a cart around your own stinking stores, or I’m going to shop at Sam’s Club for everything, because they have 8′ aisles.