Mind over Matter

The mind can make the body do incredible things. I have heard many stories about people saving other people's lives by lifting immensely heavy items like cars or huge cement pipes off people that were injured and almost crushed by stuff like that falling on top of them.
My own story from long ago is not nearly as impressive, but it makes a point and a humorous one at that! =)

When I first came to the United States, I was very impressed by the sheer size of grocery and department stores. While I might have seen 15 or 20 different types of cereal in German stores, now I was overwhelmed with a whole isle! I also found it interesting that in America there was a way to get more for your money, if you buy in bulk. Just think of the “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” signs all over our stores.
Pretty soon I also stumbled over the slogan “Bigger and Better in America” and was thoroughly convinced that the statement was true, based on my observations in those grocery isles.

Well, one sunny day, soon after our arrival in Idaho, after my (now former) father-in-law had jokingly briefed me about what great potatoes you could get in Idaho, my ex-husband took me to a local grocery store. He went to get a few non-food items, leaving me in the produce section of the store to purchase what was needed to prepare our meals.

And there they were, as big as 2 men’s fists, “Idaho Russet Potatoes”. I was impressed! There were some small bags, off to the side, but my gaze fell upon eight to ten huge paper bags stacked on top of each other, with a large sign sticking out from between them, announcing the price: $2.29. I could not believe it! Actually it read:

Idaho Russet Potatoes
10 lbs.
$2.29

Having just arrived from Germany, my metric measurements and conversions of weights were still a bit thrown off by the American system of inches, feet, ounces and pounds. In addition, German grocers sell most produce items in kilograms. A kilogram is just over 2 American pounds.

When I saw that sign, for some reason I thought “10 kilograms” (not pounds, like the sign read in reality) would have to be a rather large amount of potatoes, despite the fact that those bags of potatoes were indeed enormously big! Have you ever heard of Germans being quite stubborn? Well, in my mind this was an awesome deal, and I had to have it! For a moment I regretted that unlike in Germany, we did not have a cellar to store all those delicious golden rounds and resigned to only buying one of the big brown paper bags.

With a bit of effort I managed to lift the whole gargantuan bag into my shopping cart, right before my ex-husband approached. Skeptically, he glanced at my “bargain” and asked me what in the world we should do with all these potatoes; after all they would last us for weeks, if not months? I explained that the potatoes were a steal at only $2.29 and that there was no way I would let this deal pass me by! He looked at the price sign and a grin about as huge as the sac of potatoes I had just lifted into the cart, spread on his face: “Petra, that is not a 10 pound bag!” I went on to show him a label on the paper bag itself.

It stated:
10 lb bag, Russet potatoes, Individual price $2.29.

I said, “If they write this on the bag, it must be true!” He shook his head in disbelief, remembering that I weighed only about 115 pounds myself at that time: “And you lifted that into the cart, all by yourself?” I answered: “Of course!”

My ex-husband must have been genuinely tickled by my persistence and let me precede to the cash register. The clerk was equally surprised at my intention of buying this massive bag of potatoes. She could not find the price on the paper bag, and I decided to point it out to her. “Oh, no”, she said, “This is the price for a 10 pound bag!” She continued to open one side of the paper enclosure to reveal – not one or two, but FIVE - 10 pound bags of potatoes in the paper wrapper! I had convinced my mind that I was only lifting 10 pounds of weight – as I had many times before, just with a little less effort – and had inadvertently lifted a whopping FIFTY pounds of golden Russet potatoes into the tall shopping cart!

I did not get the deal I had hoped for, but about 8 months later, during a job interview to become a management trainee at a popular furniture store, the recruitment director asked me to tell him a story about something interesting that happened to me. I still don’t know why told him this story – but I got the job! Later he told me, that the potato story set me apart from all other applicants, because it showed that when challenged, I would do whatever it takes to achieve my goal! But that’s just how I am – you see, Germany has great potatoes – and people, too!