The Strack & Van Til is a place, that oftentime, I find myself frequenting.
I have no choice, I rather not gander down to the East Side of chicago because stopsigns & no lights make this girl, *me* X go crazy.

So I drive to the Strack, as I've come to call it.

I am welcomed into the store with a cops back to me, bypassing the cart section, and right hand wall littered with notices, of missing dogs, or cats, or some backyard breeders "offering" of chihuahuas or teacup this or that.  Thought teacups were only used at Tea Parties?  Think again, you can cram a 2 pound embryo-type of dog into there, and as it wheezes through life with defects & abnormalities, it will undoubtedly attract cooing attention from others, who feel the same dumbass way you do, happy of its little tiny existance in the world of "cute"

I digress.

There are the bankers/tellers from Centier bank, chortling or goofing off or with their arrogant noses in the air, the short chubby hispanic guy is always flirting with someone, and he thinks he's pretty hot, even though he looks like Benny from the Biggest Loser who was from the northside of chicago & won the at-home challenge prize of $100,000

Let me be specific though, he looks like the after-benny who gained 40 pounds back, and does youtube fitness video's or commentary to remain relevant.

Then, as I make my way to the deli section, bypassing the homemade cakes and peorgi's & the meats & cheeses, already thickly cut & waiting your selection, I go to the tiny section where there are packaged pasta's and jello's & ready made sandwiches & salads.  Here, I get to go through an easter egg basket weave thing, and toss about the egg salad & ham sandwiches until I reach the coveted turkey.

Turkey sandwiches are NOT in abundance.  I picture some turkey sandwich purchaser- perhaps a sneaky older woman, or a young man who lives by himself, coming in on Saturday's when they usually just make them - and buying all 8 or so sandwiches, whose expiration dates aren't until Tuesday.

I picture it now:  Him or her eating those sandwiches in delight - perhaps squeezing some no-name brand mayonaise or mustard (provided in a little container at the strack- free with purchase - dressings however are charged even when you buy their unwashed lettuce and tomato, and 1 chopped boiled-egg salads for $3 or so) & eating them to their great mischevious hogger delight.

Again though, I digress.

At the Strack, I usually encounter problems when I buy an item on sale.  I'll be there, Thursday morning, the day of a new sale.  Guess what I find?  You know those Pomengranate Blueberry Crystal Light flavor-your-water packets?  For A Buck, though they retail for $2.99 usually?  Well they are hidden behind the non-saled Rasperry Lemonade.

The Boil a Bag rice on sale?  Shoved way behind the brown rice instant boil a bag, that is NOT on sale.  The FIVE gum by Wrigley?  Ooh, big surprise, every single box in every single LANE - EMPTY.

The free whole mushrooms, on sale for 3 days only for $1?  Guess what, there are only sliced Pennsylvania Dutch Mushrooms on display.

Now I pointed this out to a cashier, to her chagrin, and she informed me that "they could get me mushrooms from the back" for that price.

You mean, you were hiding your WHOLE mushrooms, and TRICKING people into reaching for the SLICED mushrooms, to when you ring it up are a dollar in their head, but Charged 1.99 in actuality?

I think Strack & Van Til sucks for this.  I've gotten things on sale, that had to be re-rung or manager authorized, when its in the paper, or I'm having to go with the Bag boy to go point out their merchandising stickers or pricetags.  Of course, when they go alone, and I'm not on their ass, they never seem to "find the item"

Also, a recyclable Strack & Van Til bag - reusable black bag - saves you 10 cents each time you come in, since they are saving money not having to place their plastic bags around your food - and instead stuff everything into your purchased for a dollar bag.  Well it never shows up on my reciept - the 10 cents.

Don't make a promise you cannot keep Strack - Sometimes while in line, I get great cashiers, but sometimes, they have a chola at the register.

An old ass gangster chola, who smacks gums, doesn't say hello, and whose brown lipstick kinda matches her dyed red brown hair.

Oh, but my favorite cashier, is the one who NEVER ever says hello to me, even when I try hard to be nice to her, and Who is always laughing a flirting with a chubby and pretty nice cop, who bags groceries or leans around, in his HAMMOND POLICE jacket.  

Sometimes I wonder why Indiana or Hammond for that matter, allows their police officers to work part time at Strack & Van Til - especially since STRACK & VAN TIL should have their own security team.  If you look them up, they have stores everywhere around here - and whats weird, is that my favorite location, and the most polite is their store in East Chicago, which is pretty much like the south inner city of Chicago - very mixed race, predominantly hispanic, higher rate of crime - but a clean store.  Cashiers are more knowledgable & lets face it - everything is clean - & even though I realize this is a newer store 

The WHITING Strack & Van Til has dirty linoleum floors, cupcakes that have their frosting smeared all over their containers, and on more than one occassion, I've bought tortillas, and opened them to reveal blue fuzz.  

Overall, this place is a hated necessity.  I don't want to drive all the way to east chicago for groceries, and don't want to hit up the Pete's Market on the East Side of chicago, though they are a pretty good chain of grocery stores - except their location on 47th that has food-poisoned me with lunch meat & fruit salad multiple times.