A New Friend in Frozen Foods

It was just another supermarket run at the local Stop & Shop, one of many in this crazy life. But this one felt different from our first steps inside our local establishment. People were whispering and clearly wondering about something as we headed toward aisle three. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what they were saying, but they kept looking around, and I sensed that they felt like they were being watched – similar to how Luke Skywalker felt right before meeting Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.

Not seeing anything resembling a Jedi Master as we neared the dairy section before continuing on to grab spaghetti and sauce, I glanced again at my list. And that’s when we heard the whispers and looked up to see those stares again. What the heck was going on here? Was there toilet paper stuck to my shoe? Did I appear injured in some way, but I didn’t know it? What on earth was happening?

Then we saw it. This large odd-shaped thing on wheels was coming down the walkway between the registers and the aisles. Maybe we were being watched, but not through the eyes of standard surveillance systems. No, this entity had huge googly eyes and looked like a large trombone case standing vertically atop a box. I stared in somewhat startled silence before literally starting to laugh out loud.

Was this our new secret shopper here to make sure no one buys sour-cream-and-onion-flavored potato chips and orange juice at the same time? Was it taking special orders? Was it a new, larger version of Roomba? What was its name? With eyes like that, it needed a name to match. Or was it just there to make us laugh? We spied other customers smiling and holding back a chuckle now, too.

“Trombot,” as I’ll call it for now, continued to move back and forth as if desperate for some direction. Minutes later, its wish came true.

“Clean up, aisle eight,” the loudspeaker announced, and Trombot was off. His glued-on googly eyes for a moment appeared as if they could actually twinkle. People followed to see what would happen. We had to join them as this was elevating what was normally a run-of-the-mill shopping excursion to exciting new levels of engagement. (It’s the little things in life!) Together, we all took a collective peer down the aisle, trying not to look like idiots but failing.

There it was, the issue at hand. Zeroing directly in on its target, Trombot quickly went to work. You have got to be kidding! I NEED this for my house, I immediately thought. If only it could go upstairs. “Clean up, kids’ rooms!” Can you imagine?

Just as fast as it alerted folks to the mess, it returned to pace the space between the registers and aisles again, awaiting its next call to action. We lingered a bit longer in the store to watch Trombot. Ignoring the fact that glue played a role, Trombot’s eyes forever gleamed it seemed as it accomplished each mission. My eyes in some way did the same, knowing that a mundane trip to buy groceries may now bring more smiles as googly eyes greet us and Trombot’s mad dash begins. “Clean up, produce!”

Editor’s Update: Two days after writing this post, I learned that the robot’s actual name is Marty — just in case you were wondering.