Major WTF moment at Whole Foods.

[grace0418]

So I'm standing in line at Whole Foods and the cashier is just about to turn to my items on the belt. Suddenly two women come up to him holding a pizza (checked out in another line), interrupt him, and demand that he give them a bag. He tells the first woman that they don't have any bags to fit a pizza box but she won't hear of it. So he takes out the largest paper grocery bag they have and shows her. She grabs it from him and starts trying to stuff the pizza box in it. The pizza box goes about three or four inches into the bag before getting stuck, but that's enough for her apparently.

Both women walk away. Then the woman holding the pizza/bag combo grabs one handle in each hand and starts shaking the whole thing, now completely vertical, to try to force the pizza box into the bag. Her friend just stands there watching like there's nothing wrong with that.

:wtf:

By now the cashier, the girl bagging groceries and I are just watching this woman in disbelief. I should mention at this point that these women did not appear to be disabled or mentally ill or from a planet that does not experience the effects of gravity. The bagger finally turns to me and says "well, maybe she's never bought a pizza before." To which I replied "yeah, but she's had food before, right? I mean she must understand the reason why you put food on a plate and hold it horizontally."

The two women eventually realized that the entire contents of the pizza box except for the crust was now in the bottom of the paper bag and about to soak through, so they opened the box up on a table in the little dining area and plopped all the toppings back on their crust. Naturally, they left the wet bag just sitting on the table.

As I was leaving with my groceries, I spotted the women standing in line at customer service, holding the pizza box. And I just had to wonder what these women were going to say and what they expected to get from customer service. Were they going to lie and say the pizza fell or that someone bumped into them? Were they going to complain about the lack of proper bags for pizzas? Were they going to complain that no one told them that a freshly baked pizza would be hot and that hot pizza toppings can slide off?

I don't know, but that has to be the dumbest thing I've seen in a while.

[flvegan]

1. "That's the law of gravity for you." "But I never studied law."

[grace0418]

9. LOL!

Up until an hour ago I just assumed that every fully functional person over the age of about 4 understood that hot, saucy food needs to stay horizontal unless you want it to be a big pile of goo. I have been proven wrong.

[HopeHoops]

2. I'm betting there was a Bush/Cheney 04 AND a McCain/Palin 08 bumper sticker on their foreign car.

Just a guess.

[rcrush]

3. I love customers who live to complain.

I worked in this "upscale" area of town for awhile and had customers like this ALL THE TIME. Fucking spoiled idiots!


Live in texas and work where the rich people live and you will want to put a gun in your mouth.

[grace0418]

5. Working retail anywhere makes me want to put a gun in my mouth.

I did it from the time I was 16 until I was about 25 or 26 and I hope I never have to go back to it ever. It was always the dumbest customers who were also the rudest and the most demanding. And they treated you like YOU were below them.

[unpossibles]

17. yup.

I worked in food service for years, and it seemed people confused "service" and "server" with "servant" all the time!

[kentauros]

6. The WF in the River Oaks part of Houston (THE richest part of town)

has the rudest customers I've ever had the misfortune to shop around. Unfortunately, because WF caters to the customers in the area they are in, I don't always get to buy the things I like (such as J.R. Liggett's shampoo) and have to shop at the "big" store on Alabama and Kirby. The last time I went there, one woman, yapping on her cell phone in the refrigerated section had planted herself and her cart right in front of where I needed to reach. I said "Excuse me" several times before she even acknowledge I was there, moved all of a foot, never once stopping her inane yapping. I'm sometimes too polite, but I usually get happier responses out of people by being that way, but I should probably just be as rude to those folks as they are to everyone else. I think they almost expect it.

Of course, the other problem all this rudenss causes is wearing down the employees so that they are curt and obviously pissed off by the time you get to the checkout. Still, I do try to engage them and they do appreciate it. Maybe next time I have to shop there, I'll pull clothes out of the hamper and be my stinkiest, sweatiest best for the customers

[grace0418]

8. I say excuse me two times to someone on their cell phone before

I either move their cart myself or push past them as needed. I'm very polite with someone until they ignore me, then I'm not polite at all. :)

[kentauros]

10. Yeah, I was thinking of something like that tactic as I was writing.

Maybe if they complain, I'll reply with something on the order of "Well, it's obvious that your phone call is more important than shopping, so I'm just moving the obstruction. Perhaps I should just take your cart and put everything back?" ;)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. That figures.

I used to work retail and hated snotty customers. Also they would yak on their cellfones while I was showing them something (I worked in the Fish Gravel dept. at Foley's).

Or when we opened at 6 am some damn early riser would want me to immediately show them a piece of jewelry. I said "I'm sorry but due to insurance regulations I have to take all these boards out of the safe and put them immediately in the display cases". :wtf:

I shop at the Whole Foods on Woodway and Voss and we got our share of oblivio-Muffs there too.

[keroro gunsou]

23. i know what's worse

them yapping on a bluetooth headset... that's worse.

[bluedigger]

24. Umm..."Fish Gravel Dept."?

Really?:crazy:

A whole department for..."fish gravel"?:shrug:

:rofl:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. Learned that term in my GIA class.

GIA is Gemological Institute of America. They have classes in major cities. One year just for the heck of it I took a week long course in Diamond Grading, and another week in Colored Stone Grading. They were fun b/c they combine science (crystal structure, RI, dispersion) and aesthetics.

They give you a certificate for it. You can take a bunch of courses and get what they call a G.G., Graduate Gemologist. Diamond Grading is where you learn the standard terms like Flawless, Internally Flawless, Very Very Slight 1 & 2, Very Slight 1 & 2, Slightly Imperfect 1 & 2, and Imperfect 1 & 2.

Anything rated at SI1, SI2, I1 or I2 is trash.

The best grade possible is D (color) Flawless. I have never seen a stone like that, because I never worked in a store that I was not ashamed of.

Anyway, the teachers in Diamond Grading talked about really crummy diamonds like they sell in the mall chains, or in lease depts. in the dept. stores. The one I worked at was Finlay Fine Jewelry.

The diamonds are so crummy that they really should be used in grinding wheels, or as aquarium gravel...hence the name "fish gravel". Not worth carrying out of the store.

Another name I have for overpriced cruddy jewelry is "Sea of Prongs" and "Gum Wrapper Setting".


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[kentauros]

28. Haven't been to the Woodway/Voss store in years;

same for the one way out on Westheimer. What I remember about the Voss store mainly was that it was rather tiny by WF standards. I know the one I normally shop at (Bellaire/Weslayan) isn't that big, either, but I've gotten into long conversations with customers before, about ingredients! :) Rarely, there are some "old bitties" but most of the time it's pleasant to shop there. I've even seen Buddhists dressed in their orange robes shopping there :D

Oh, you should go and shop at Phoenicia sometime, though you may know about it. Wonderful grocery for pretty much anything Eastern/Middle Eastern/Asian and so on. The customers aren't always polite, but it's great just for people-watching.

[Kat45]

18. I do the same thing when someone's cart is blocking the aisle.

And when I am pushing their cart out of the way, I still plaster a smile on my face--sometimes they actually wake up and apologize!

[hobbit709]

20. Taking the phone out of her hand, hanging it up and throwing it on the floor hard

is what really needs to be done.

[grace0418]

21. That's what I'm fantasizing about doing while I calmly move the cart.

But who knows who's got a gun these days.

[angel823]

15. I know exactly what you mean

WF in River Oaks is the closest place I can go to when buying organic meat, etc. I try to go there early on Sundays to beat the a**hat crowd.

Angel

[kentauros]

26. Okay, thanks for the tip.

What time do they open on Sundays? :)
You're sure to get excellent help then, too ;)

[tigereye]

29. I like the people who work there

I"m not always crazy about the folks who shop there - too self-involved. I hate when people have no courtesy.

[kentauros]

31. I'm sure the employees are nice (I knew one of them from high school)

but I learned my lesson not to shop there at the end of the day. Then they're all worn out by the awful customers. Not that they aren't trying to be nice, but you can hear the fatigue in their voices and see it in their body language. They have my greatest sympathies to work in that environment. There should be "hazard pay" for having to deal with wealthy customers ;)

[Debi]

4. Okay...I'll say it...

Midlo was @ Whole Foods? :yoiks:

[no name no slogan]

7. WIN

thread ovar. You win one series of tubes, autographed by Sen. Ted Stevens and Vice President Al Gore.

[Debi]

12. I am the winnah!!

:woohoo:

I'm also probably DTM in the Midlo household no matter how much boxed wine I buy her!! :cry:

[Pale Blue Dot]

11. And that is why I don't miss retail ONE BIT.

I'd much rather teach 11 and 12 year olds. They're more mature than retail customers.

[grace0418]

19. And much smarter apparently. I imagine that your students understand that

food doesn't react well to being dumped sideways into a bag.

[derby378]

13. I think I would have hovered around the Customer Service desk...

...and called these two out whenever they tried to bitch about the pizza. Hilarity and harsh words would ensue, I am sure, but they'd deserve being shamed.

[grace0418]

16. I thought about it too late.

I was already in the car. Plus the line at customer service was pretty long.

[surrealAmerican]

22. I can almost hear them now...

... "They gave us a bag that wasn't big enough, and just look what happened when we tried to put the pizza in it."

[grace0418]

25. I know, right?

They'll probably get a new pizza too. Rewarded for being dumbasses.

[tigereye]

27. maybe they had never seen a pizza before?

Sounds like the kind of self-absorption I sometimes notice when I shop there, but with a twist of lack of common sense.

[grace0418]

32. Yes, but surely they've had food before. Unless their servants spoon-fed them their

entire lives, they must've encountered food on a plate and quickly realized that it tends to slide around if you tip the plate. :)

Truth be told, they didn't seem all that wealthy. Just dumb as a box of rocks.

[tigereye]

34. makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our second quarter 2009 fund drive.
Donate and you'll be automatically entered into our daily contest.
New prizes daily!



No purchase or donation necessary. Void where prohibited. Click here for more information.