Great things about being blind. Getting great help with shopping.

With the internet and on-line shopping, shopping has become easier for me in many ways. I can browse products on-line, read descriptions of them, order them if I want to. I remember the first time I ever saw on-line grocery shopping. I went through all of the aisles and read about each product. It was amazing. Shopping in a conventional way means I need some kind of assistance. Sometimes, I go with friends or family. this is particularly useful when shopping for clothes. Sometimes I go on my own and ask for help from employees. You can get very interesting help. People who don't know what certain fruits or vegetables are. People who have different senses of humour than you when picking out cards. But, yesterday, I went for some groceries and had a wonderful shopping experience. The woman who helped me asked the right questions. Did I want very ripe or not so ripe bananas, read me packages, let me touch the amount of almonds she found for me in bulk to see if it was the amount I wanted. She talked about which fruits and vegetables looked better than others and was generally helpful, informative, natural, and fun to be around. This kind of experience makes shopping a pleasure rather than a mystery. When I was in the store, a fellow shopper came to tell me that her large dog was tied up outside. That the dog was a bit rambunctious and that she was going to leave before I did and move her dog so I wouldn't be disturbed by it. Very considerate too. So, even though it was freezing here yesterday, it was a pleasure to have a great shopping experience and to have just the right kind of help.