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Yesterday I decided to make a triple lentil soup. I happened to be working near a national grocery chain that has recently added a new section of healthier food items. This chain has widely advertised their new line of organic foods including whole grains and natural foods so I thought I would stop in and check it out.
I was unable to find lentils in the organic section so I asked an employee who was wearing a black vest and supervisor tag where I could find lentils.
She looked puzzled and said, "Find WHO??"
I repeated that I was looking for lentils and then she yelled across the store to another employee who was busy texting while standing at a register., "HEY DO WE GOT LENTILS????"
The second employee yelled back, "Them's in a CAN??"
I told the supervisor, no, they were in a bag. She shouted back, "Them's in a BAG!!!!" at the other employee, and they yelled back and forth a few times before deciding that they didn't have lentils. The supervisor helpfully added, "We got beans in aisle 14!"
So I walked around the store and eventually found red lentils next to the condiments. They were $4.29, and I needed two other vvarieties of lentils so I left and went to Whole Foods.
At Whole Foods an employee pleasantly greeted me and asked if she could help me find anything. She took me directly to several varieties and brands of lentils. I paid $2.29 for each bag, much cheaper than the chain grocery store was charging for the red lentils they did have.
Is there a reason you didn't ask for lentil beans, instead of just saying lentils? I'm sure your ordeal would have ended quickly, and you'd have no story to tell.
I adore the people at my local Whole Foods, and I do 95% of my shopping there. Special request? No problem! I ask, "Would you cut that salmon fillet into three equal portions?" The fishmonger says, "Of course." Olive oil dispenser empty? I mention it to the grocery person, and she says, "Be right back with a refill." I approach the deli for some sliced turkey, "He asks, "Is there anything you've had trouble finding that I can help you locate?" It's a pleasure to shop there.
As for lentils, the idea that lentils are exotic makes me laugh. I grew up in a "meat & potatoes" blue-collar Midwestern city, and lentil soup was regularly served for dinner. They're hardly exotic. The vast majority of lentils, by far, are grown in Canada! And the United States is the fifth largest grower in the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugah Ray
Then those smelly unwrapped soap bars. I don't even understand the logic behind those.
As someone who is working toward a trash-free household, those unwrapped soap bars are just one more reason for me to shop at WF. The standard plasticized wrapping on most soap bars is non-recyclable and non-compostable.
Last edited by randomparent; 03-01-2014 at 08:45 AM..
im not suggesting we hold supermarket employees in especially high regard, but we shouldn't insult them either. its a job that requires minimal skill and education, so that's what you get. you want better, you will have to pay for better. some people are willing to pay extra to have an employee that's an expert on lentils in a store with 5 types of lentils and some are happy to pay less for 1 type of lentil and an employee that says "whats a lentil?"
No one asked for an expert, just to be told where the product is in the store. Many of us worked in grocery stores after school, I can tell you being unhelpful and talking like that would have gotten us in trouble, not to mention mocked. I recently started noticing a few bad apples working at my grocery store, they don't last long. One of them tried to steal my pinot noir, I was not supposed to notice she didn't put it on the belt, but placed it behind her register.
We have a fantastic locally-owned organic market, pricey but even the employees there are not so great lately. I do expect professionalism from ANYONE who works with the public and so should all customers.
There is no way I would be able to get everything for my family at whole foods. It would be ridiculously expensive. I get maybe 25% of my groceries there! and it usually costs about the same as the rest of my groceries at my HEB.
I do love all the gluten free items, produce, and specialty items though.
For a regular grocery store, they sell a lot of exotic or rare stuff at the Meijer in Canton, MI. Dragon fruit, passion fruit, Bhudda's hand citron, guava, bitter melon, cherimoya, rambutan, chive flowers, Chinese yard long beans, turmeric, bottle gourd, chayote, jicama, kholrabi, kumquat, salsify, Jersusalem artichokes, quince, etc. They have couscous, several different colors of quinoa, quite a few kinds of lentils, chia seeds, amaranth, etc. They're pretty good for international stuff too, like you said. I've been pretty impressed with the Meijer here really, and I'm not easily impressed when it comes to grocery stores.
I have a can of Latvian sprat pate on top of the fridge from Meijer right now, by the way.
Yeah, I guess I didn't give them enough credit when I started that thread of mine about international foods in Metro D (thanks for responding, by the way). Their prices on those exotic items aren't particularly friendly (i.e. $.99-$1.49 per passionfruit is a bit steep considering how much of it you're getting and the fact they are U.S.-grown, so no tariffs and no international shipping), but at least, unlike with Kroger and especially Wal-Mart, they are available.
Yesterday I decided to make a triple lentil soup. I happened to be working near a national grocery chain that has recently added a new section of healthier food items. This chain has widely advertised their new line of organic foods including whole grains and natural foods so I thought I would stop in and check it out.
I was unable to find lentils in the organic section so I asked an employee who was wearing a black vest and supervisor tag where I could find lentils.
She looked puzzled and said, "Find WHO??"
I repeated that I was looking for lentils and then she yelled across the store to another employee who was busy texting while standing at a register., "HEY DO WE GOT LENTILS????"
The second employee yelled back, "Them's in a CAN??"
I told the supervisor, no, they were in a bag. She shouted back, "Them's in a BAG!!!!" at the other employee, and they yelled back and forth a few times before deciding that they didn't have lentils. The supervisor helpfully added, "We got beans in aisle 14!"
So I walked around the store and eventually found red lentils next to the condiments. They were $4.29, and I needed two other vvarieties of lentils so I left and went to Whole Foods.
At Whole Foods an employee pleasantly greeted me and asked if she could help me find anything. She took me directly to several varieties and brands of lentils. I paid $2.29 for each bag, much cheaper than the chain grocery store was charging for the red lentils they did have.
My "bs" detector went off.
I have shopped at grocery stores in many small towns in the Midwest and south and have never heard those expressions used by the employees and even by a supervisor.
Just because a new thread is started and it includes the words...."true story"...does not mean I swallow it hook,line, and sinker.
Is there a reason you didn't ask for lentil beans, instead of just saying lentils? I'm sure your ordeal would have ended quickly, and you'd have no story to tell.
Probably because they aren't beans. Both beans and lentils are legumes, but that doesn't make them interchangeable in name.
As someone who is working toward a trash-free household, those unwrapped soap bars are just one more reason for me to shop at WF. The standard plasticized wrapping on most soap bars is non-recyclable and non-compostable.
Miinimal wrapping is great I agree but those soap bars have so much fragance it cannot be that great for the environment or for people's body.
Yesterday I decided to make a triple lentil soup. I happened to be working near a national grocery chain that has recently added a new section of healthier food items. This chain has widely advertised their new line of organic foods including whole grains and natural foods so I thought I would stop in and check it out.
I was unable to find lentils in the organic section so I asked an employee who was wearing a black vest and supervisor tag where I could find lentils.
She looked puzzled and said, "Find WHO??"
I repeated that I was looking for lentils and then she yelled across the store to another employee who was busy texting while standing at a register., "HEY DO WE GOT LENTILS????"
The second employee yelled back, "Them's in a CAN??"
I told the supervisor, no, they were in a bag. She shouted back, "Them's in a BAG!!!!" at the other employee, and they yelled back and forth a few times before deciding that they didn't have lentils. The supervisor helpfully added, "We got beans in aisle 14!"
So I walked around the store and eventually found red lentils next to the condiments. They were $4.29, and I needed two other vvarieties of lentils so I left and went to Whole Foods.
At Whole Foods an employee pleasantly greeted me and asked if she could help me find anything. She took me directly to several varieties and brands of lentils. I paid $2.29 for each bag, much cheaper than the chain grocery store was charging for the red lentils they did have.
Why not just ask what row the bagged beans were in, than go through all that drama??
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