I caught a cold somewhere between flying to Virginia and back. Usually I look for someone or something to blame, but there are so many people sick right now, it's kind of hard to pinpoint.
I don't know what grocery chain you frequent, but in Atlanta, top tier is Whole Foods, mid-tier is Publix and at the very bottom is Kroger. From there you have your sub-divisions of Kroger. In the 70s, the Kroger in Buckhead used to be The Limelight - a HUGE disco worthy of people like Elton John. It has since become a Kroger and Atlantans call it Disco Kroger not only because it used to house The Limelight but also because they tend to jam out to some pretty ridiculous music at all hours of the day in there. I once danced up and down the aisles during George Benson's Give Me The Night and I know someone who recently rocked out to a Julian Lennon 80s ballad. Fun, but weird.
Then there's the Crack Kroger, also known as the Murder Kroger, on Ponce in Midtown. I've been in there twice. Once to buy condoms at whoknowswheninthemorning after drinking and doing godknowswhatelse at MJQ across the street. The other time was last night...errrr....early morning.
Let me be clear that you shouldn't EVER go into the Crack Kroger. EVER.
You don't go in there sober (as evidenced by most post-midnight, drunken run to buy condoms).
You don't go in there during the day (it's kinda like a club, you don't want to see anything or anybody in the light of day - you might pass out)
and under no circumstances do you ever buy groceries there.
Crack Kroger is on Ponce which already says a lot. Ponce in Atlanta is about as disgusting as Boulevard which is to say its one of the worst streets in the A. Crackheads smoking crack down the street (I've seen this firsthand), homeless people, prostitutes...it's just filthy. Crack Kroger isn't named that just for grins, I assume that's what goes down there and I'm pretty sure it didn't get it's other name "Murder Kroger" for grins either.
After hanging out with Yones doing dinner and a movie last night, I could feel my cold getting worse, so on my way home I was racking my brain trying to think of all the close 24 hour groceries or pharmacies. I stopped by a CVS I thought was 24 hours but it wasn't and it was already after midnight. The only other option was Kroger and I wasn't anywhere near Disco Kroger so the only option was Crack Kroger.
I thought about not going, I really did, but I knew if I bypassed Nyquil that evening I would never get to sleep and I would pay for it in the morning. Crack Kroger it was.
I walked in there and there were no less than four armed Atlanta policemen at the door. Not a good sign.
I made my way to the pharmacy aisles as quickly as I could trying not to look anyone in the eye or look at anything to long. If I did, I probably would have reconsidered my visit and left. I found my Nyquil (well, the generic anyway), went over to the self checkout and left. It took less than 3 minutes and I have never been so happy to be alive and out of a grocery store. The thing is, I wasn't the only one in there with the cops. There were people in there. Sober. Buying groceries. At midnight. And they weren't drug addicts, prostitutes or homeless (from what I could tell anyway). It was a bit like watching a talking dog. Fascinating and scary.
When I got home I thought about disinfecting the actual bottle just in case. So I did.
So the moral of the story is?
Don't EVER go into the Crack/Murder Kroger.
