I thought I ordered three lemons. Just three. Not a citrus stimulus package. Not a small Mediterranean export strategy. Just three lemons to go with chicken tenders and maybe a Caesar salad if I was feeling ambitious. Apparently what I actually ordered was bulk optimism.
The delivery arrived and I opened the bag to discover mesh sacks. Plural. Lemons. Limes. Enough vitamin C to carry a minor nation through flu season. I stood there staring at the counter like I had accidentally opened a roadside produce stand in my own kitchen. At no point did I check the price. At no point did I notice the word “bag.” At no point did I pause and think, self, this is Costco. Since when do they deal in singles? No. I clicked confidently.
This is entirely on me.
Somewhere in the digital grocery universe there is an algorithm that absolutely knew what it was doing. You want three lemons? Of course you do. Here are three bags. And while we’re at it, have two sacks of limes. Go big or go home.
And somewhere in all of this citrus abundance there is probably a subtle political lesson, because sometimes you think you’re ordering just a little change and then the truck backs up and unloads wholesale transformation onto your front step.
I do occasionally wonder if some folks in the United States thought they were ordering three lemons and instead received an entire warehouse of unpredictability. Maybe they didn’t read the quantity carefully. Maybe they assumed how different could it be.
Meanwhile, up here, I would argue Canadians are fairly savvy shoppers. When we placed our order for Carney, we knew we were getting steady hands, spreadsheets, and bulk fiscal frameworks. It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t single-serve drama. But we checked the label. We understood the sizing. We knew it was going to arrive in institutional quantities of policy.
And since I apparently cannot write anything without making it political, here is a small note to my fellow Albertans. When that promised, or threatened, referendum list finally lands in front of us, read the fine print. Carefully. Because as I have just demonstrated in spectacular citrus fashion, one small word like “bag” can make a very big difference.
Did I learn a lesson? Yes. Will I still order from Costco as though it might suddenly embrace minimalist quantities? Also yes. But next time I click “three,” I will make absolutely certain I know whether I am buying garnish… or governing philosophy.
In the meantime, if anyone needs lemons, I appear to be running a very well-stocked democracy.
Nancy's Notes 