For the Rancho Bernardo Sun: My complaints about a local supermarket, which seem to be common everywhere

WHY I HATE SUPERMARKETS AND THINK WOMEN SHOULD DESIGN THEM

I hate supermarkets, probably because men design them, or maybe it's the Devil himself!! Women would never inconvenience themselves that way, if they had the choice. We're not fooled by the fact that milk and eggs, are found in the farthest limits of outer space. On the other hand, one can find dairy products in six places. They reside in the deli counter, on a freestanding kiosk in front of the deli counter, on back wall adjacent to the deli counter, in the aisle across from ice cream, plus on that far wall where milk and eggs are located. Does this make sense?  Does a kiosk with nothing but olives make sense, for that matter? Well who says the supermarket has to make sense anyway?

Pasta is another mystery. There is ordinary pasta, plus pasta in the health foods department, however, a healthy product made of half white flour and half whole wheat is not in the health food section. And how about mushrooms and tomatoes? Did you know they are Italian food, segregated from the regular canned veggies, down the aisle near the pasta and spaghetti sauces?

Before we can get to the household items, we must pass aisles with beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks, candy, cookies and crackers, and then we finally hit the aisle with the cleaning products such as room deodorants, brooms, and polish. But are we finally in the household department? Not really. First we have to pass the seasonal items, the baby and infant dept, the pet department and the feminine care products. Then we finally arrive at paper goods like, paper towels, napkins, dishes, toilet paper and Kleenex, certainly household items. 

I think women should design super markets. I know that at least we could keep the household items in one place, and probably find a way to keep all the dairy products together too. I imagine that the men with cel phones pasted to their ears, asking their wives where everything is, would appreciate that too.

Rosalie Ferrer Kramer, author, freelance writer, and poet. Her newest work is her poem,
" The Heart of a Women," in the book of the same name