Making Progress

Good afternoon from Butler & Bailey Market.

I hope everyone is doing well!  Things must be getting a little bit better around here because I slept until six this morning.  The last couple of weeks, it has been a lot earlier than that.  Apparently, my brain is finally starting to slow down, which means the store must be getting back into its comfort zone.  Our staff and our customers alike seem to be finding their pace in what continues to be a long marathon to the finish line instead of a sprint.

Our inventories at the store are starting to get built back up.  Dry grocery goods are still lagging behind but meat, produce, and deli/bakery inventories have increased enough to allow us to take limits off of them.  I even let our twice baked potato man get back to making twice baked potatoes again, instead of having to pitch in on everything else.  I anticipate continued improvement on all of this as we move forward.

Many manufacturers have dropped some of the varieties they are producing, so they can focus on their most important items.  For example, Oscar Mayer has stopped producing a lot of their meat items so they can get full production of the most important ones.  Kimberly-Clark and Proctor & Gamble are taking a similar approach.  That’s what we are all having to do.  Decide what has the highest sense of urgency and focus our resources on it.

I wrote a story about the bowling alley the other day. Wouldn’t you know, I got an email from someone who had two family members that actually worked there.  One of them had even been responsible for cooking burgers as part of his job.  I think they enjoyed reminiscing with me about it.

Another thing I wrote about was social distancing.  One of my suggestions was to skateboard.  I did add that I had only broken one arm doing this.  Well, as usual my good intentions backfired on me.  One of our employees was skateboarding yesterday and yes, he fell and broke his arm.  So now we are down a man, and I have only myself to blame.  I wish him a speedy recovery!

The flip side of that is I am trying to write more “Grocery Life”, because my mother is bored at home, and she asked me to keep writing to give her something to read.  It helps her to occupy time and keep up with her family and the outside world, so I am doing my best to honor her wishes.  Well that was the other day, so I came to work the next day, got a lot of my work done, then sat down to write a blog.  I even mentioned her in it.  I then finished up my day here and when I got home, I went fishing.

The last time I had gone, I had miserable luck, so I wasn’t too optimistic about my prospects.  I decided to go anyways and had one the best days of fishing I have had in a long time.

Well I am not much of a theologian, but here is how my simple mind works.  When you try to do something positive for someone else (especially your mother), the Good Lord will bless you with a boatload of fish.  I am not sure the King James Version of the Bible says it quite this way, but if you go back to the Hebrew and Greek, I am pretty sure it is in there.  You might give it a try.  You may get blessed with a “boatload of fish” also.  I’ve seen it happen time and time again.  Honestly, I feel pretty blessed, even when I am not deserving or don’t catch fish.  I think that’s probably in the Good Book also.

Getting back to the store, we will continue to be closed on Wednesdays and Sundays. Our hours on the other days are from 9 am until 7 pm.  I know this is hard to get used to, so thank you for your cooperation!  We will also continue to have special hours for the elderly and high-risk folks. These are every Tuesday and Saturday morning, from 8am until 9 am.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that things will continue to get better in the store and, more importantly, in the world.

Well, I have gotten my work done and most importantly, I have written another blog for my mother.  I think I may go try my luck at fishing.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and thanks for letting us be a part of your community!

Tom Butler