Protected by Kroger

We do quite a bit of shopping in a Kroger subsidiary, Fred Meyer.
Kroger made quite a big deal when they introduced their 'family friendly' checkout last year.

What is family friendly checkout, you ask? Well, that aisle is the one without magazines. No Cosmo with its cleavage and the promise of great orgasms.
No People Magazine with the sexiest Man/Woman/Dog/Chicken alive.
No Enquirer, no Globe no US... no magazines.
They're being proactive and taking care of my children. Ooooo-kay then!
I did some research when I got back from shopping this evening, and there is an organization out there (no, I won't lend legitimacy to them by linking) that spends huge amounts of time in letter writing and phone calling campaigns to get corporations like Kroger to remove the "pornography" from their checkout stands. They're very proud of their efforts with Kroger.

I just love smarmy, feel-good tactics that cost corporations nothing. I also love the people who lobby for such things. The don't even know how stupid they are! They're totally clueless about utterly empty corporate kiss-ass gestures. Did no one teach them cynicism while they were growing up?

The magazines aren't all that scary, really. Since a quarter of the women in the store are either showing more cleavage or more ass than the models on the magazine covers, I hardly think seeing it in paper form is going to traumatize anyone.

I'm more nervous when I see a methhead tweaking his way through the parking lot. (And no, we don't live in a crappy area of town.)

Everywhere I shop I can find something that offends me personally.

For example, I don't like shopping around people with poor personal hygiene. Some of them smell so bad I'm amazed they're not running to escape the odor. What the hell is wrong with them? I know soap and running water are readily available to most people. And when your hair is oily, and has obviously been that way for days, and you smell of stale sweat, how can you NOT know it? Believe me, the rest of us can tell.

I am offended by "parents" who ignore the shitty behavior of their offspring, too. When your child is climbing on store displays and tormenting their older or younger brothers and sisters, it's YOUR job as a parent to put a stop to it. Don't wait until one, two, or all six of them are in various stages of meltdown, please. I didn't have perfect children, but I did not allow them to be shitty to each other at home or in public.

When you are blocking the whole damn aisle and someone approaches in plain sight with a full shopping cart, get the fuck out of the way!! Jesus! What the hell is the matter with you? And don't you look at me and act like it's a nuisance to move your cart, either.
Asshole.
The nuisance is YOU.

Back to the family friendly thing. What child is going to look at magazines with 300 kinds of candy at eye-level? !?

Kroger, if you want to make a family-friendly checkout stand, get rid of the candy, hand out warm towels and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and give me a damn discount!