As the pandemic unfurled, many of us have developed interesting habits, like the classic newfound obsession with baking sourdough bread or doing puzzles. For New York-based journalist Adam Chandler, the passage of time was marked by spying on the shopping habits of an unknown person in Texas. Well, perhaps “spying” is too strong of a word. Someone in El Paso signed up for Walgreens’ loyalty program using Chandler’s email address and, in doing so, primed his inbox “for a wacky collision course with American drugstore commerce.” After each Walgreens visit, Chandler received an emailed copy of the shopper’s receipt. As a person who picks grocery lists off the ground just to get a sneak peak into a stranger’s shopping life, I found Chandler’s essay for Vox charming, though admittedly odd. At one point, the shopper’s decision to buy a pound of Oscar Mayer bologna seemed to push Chandler over the edge, a tizzy I could not understand as a person who knows the beauty of a fried bologna sandwich. Personally, I found it far more intriguing that at one point, the shopper appeared to be stockpiling beer- and bourbon-scented soap. —Tina Vasquez