Subway Series

For years I’ve shopped in  two neighborhood supermarkets – Gristedes and Key Food  – both a few blocks from my apartment and across the street from each other.

Although New York is often thought of as an unfriendly place where people live in isolation and anonymity,  we New Yorkers know that’s simply not true.   For most of us our neighborhoods are like small towns,  and we know our neighbors,  our postmen,   our local merchants – and certainly the managers of our neighborhood supermarkets.   And so I well knew Jose at Key Food and Frank at Gristedes.  (See Early Thanksgiving and Passover Shopping List)

A few years ago on a crisp fall morning I decided to do my marketing early and heading to Gristedes I saw two familiar-looking guys in animated conversation standing in front of the store.   Then I recognized Jose who had obviously crossed the street and was talking with Frank.

Friendly competitors,  I guessed they were talking shop – perhaps about the challenges of running a large city supermarket,  or dealing with the wholesale food  industry,  or with labor relations issues among their staffs.

But once I was within earshot I was reminded that New York was in the midst of a Subway Series.   I soon gathered that Jose was an avid Yankee fan,  and Frank was loyal to the Mets, and I remembered that the previous night an umpire had made a controversial call.

And so those two guys – who never failed to warmly greet their regular customers – didn’t so much as notice me as I walked past them into the store.

Apparently even conscientious urban supermarket managers had other things on their minds that October morning in New York.

– Dana Susan Lehrman