We're almost a year into dealing with COVID-19 and I now pose this question: for the stores that still have them (which is quite a few), can we end the practice of having one-way supermarket aisles?

I ask this because it doesn't seem like anyone actually follows those arrows any more.

Back about a year ago when this pandemic mess started, lots of stores quickly jumped on the idea of having one-way aisles. The idea, according Walmart via eatthis.com, was to, "increase social distancing and give customers more space on each aisle."

That simple idea did three things -- (1) you quickly learned that whatever you needed in a supermarket was in the middle of the aisle that you were on the wrong end of, (2) people got angry at people who didn't observe the stated flow of foot traffic, and (3) it made the people that were going against the flow of traffic feel like they were committing a first-degree crime.

Regarding the first thing that I just mentioned -- right as we were all getting used to wearing masks and one-way aisles, I distinctly remember being in a supermarket and needing something down an aisle, but I was at the wrong end. If the coast was clear (think of someone who just robbed a bank peering out of a window to see if anyone was around so that person could make a quick getaway), I would gingerly walk down the aisle the wrong way to get what I needed. Once there, then, of course, I could make the return trip the correct way and then give dirty looks to people walking the wrong way... like I just did....

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Anyway, if you shop in a store that still has this practice in place, do you observe the arrows? Lots of big chains have dropped the idea but several still remain.

Now don't get me wrong -- I'm still for social distancing, but I think we're all learning to leave a decent amount of space between our fellow shoppers when it's possible.

Do we still need those arrow'd signs showing us the proper way to march to pick-up a bag of Fritos? I don't think so.

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