I never could get the hang of Tuesdays

The rain keeps pouring down here in the Bay Area, sometimes so hard that it smacks against my windows and rattles them like an earthquake. Hills are sliding, sinkholes are opening, and at least one house on a hillside is poised to slide down — no doubt, ABC7 Sky HD will be there to catch it live.
All this rain is playing havoc with my internal clock. As if it weren’t bad enough that Daylight Saving Time started the other day, now when I wake up — and throughout the day — it is gray and sunless. I never quite know anymore what time it actually is, and I feel listless and lethargic. There’s work to be done, but I find myself sitting staring into space at nothing in particular.

Last night, to fight the lethargy, I headed out to Safeway to pick up some salad ingredients. I’ve been on a mini-diet for a week of Lean Cuisine — real breakfast, then a microwave lunch and dinner, total about 800 calories a day — and have lost 5 pounds so far. But I’m getting a little tired of mashed potatoes and rice and whatever else comes in those dinners. Anyway, down to Safeway, where there are two checkout lines (and mine doesn’t have a self-checkout) crowded with 7 or 8 college students in each line, each buying one item. The shelves are nearly empty, and there seems to be a total of three employees in the store. There is no salad bar here — in fact, I haven’t seen a salad bar in a grocery store since I moved here, there must be another annoying “for your own good” California law about this. Instead, they have case after case of chopped salad mixes in plastic bags, so I pick up two. When I got down to the Lean Cuisines, I was shocked at the price: nearly $5 each (regular price, before using the “Club Card.”)
Now, here’s another thing that just really burns me about grocery stores these days. Those damned cards. Stores tell you that you get a discount by using these cards, and you get points or free products or coupons or donate to schools. Bull. The point of these cards is to track your purchases and generate a marketing profile. And discounts? Nope. This card just entitles you to shop at regular price, and if you don’t use the card the price is heavily inflated.
I just put the stuff back and left.
Now, compare this experience with the new Target that opened near my house. The store is large, well-lit, and clean, unlike Safeway. The employees are cheerful and helpful almost to the point of being too much so. Unlike Safeway, who have mistaken genuine friendliness with forced intimacy — their new policy is to call each customer by name once you swipe your card. This is really creepy, Safeway.
Anyway. Target always has a decent number of registers open, and the checkout people stand out in the aisle and invite you to their register if there is no line.
And a Lean Cuisine costs $2.39 at Target. That’s less than half the price at Safeway, and still a bit cheaper than Safeway’s club price. No cards required at Target.
Safeway has 1,700 stores across the U.S. and Canada. Target has only 140 stores that sell groceries (including produce, deli, bakery, and meat), 1,300 stores in total. So tell me: how is it that Safeway can’t sell items at a lower cost than Target?
Note to the Santa Clara Safeway: Target is here, and they’re only 5 minutes from you. Time to run a mop across your floor, stock your shelves, and get some people in to run those cashier lines. If only our Target sold produce and meat, you’d be out of business.