# Gold diggers in the produce dept.



## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

Just something to get off my mind. This does not include all of the peoples, but some.
I work in the produce dept. here in HI, not telling which one! LOL . The things I see in there are just plain RUDE. First off I knew what I was getting into, but didn't know how rude some people are or how inconsiderate they are, and if your one of them please take into consideration for others who work hard.
A typical day for me at my job starts off by looking at my slaes floor and seeing what needs to be added. As I make my way to the chill I grab what is needed. As I take on the challenge of making my nice pile of head cabbage. I know nobody wants the stuff that was sitting there last night, everbody wants the freshest produce, but it can't be helped.(Hey! its all going into your stomach) So I take all the head cabbage and align them all to the front, being they were their first(Doesn't mean they were their since last night, some could've been their earlier in the day). Then proceed to put all the new head cabbage in the back of the old ones. As I walk away to the next section, I see the savages all huddle over the head cabbage. They start tossing left, right, on top the Chinese cabbage, then grab only the ones that were just put their by me. It doesn't matter if you get the freshest one that I just put out their. What really PISSES me off, is when people start tossing it left, right, or just plainly dig in the produce and mess up what I have just done or not put it back. It ain't your home, but it is mine. Sure, I know it ain't your job, but it makes it harder for us to do. The most stupidest thing I have ever seen, is when the local tomatoes are a dull red, I mean dull red, the stuff that not gonna ripe for 3-4 days. I make a nice pyramid stack, and all the people dig to the bottom to only find not ripe tomatoes, but the same stuff that was on the top. Like hello are you f****** blind? Whats even more dumb! Theres a stack of avocados, that are all bright green, not gonna ripe for another 3-4 days, and they start digging only to find tada the same s*** that was on the top. 
Sorry if I stepped on anyones toes, but I feel its just gotten bad with how customers have this attitude like.(Local talk) "Eh bra, I da customer, so I go do what I like, kay." I know it ain't your job to straigten it up, but don't have to make like your digging for gold and mess it all up. Just cuz you don't work like I do, the same goes for you. All things come 2x worse when I Bachi you or when you know it's wrong. Geez, I think people take things for granted, don't you? Can't wait till this world runs out of all the necessities that man needs to live by. And no I'm not joking. This world is overpopulated, polluted and abused, especially abused. 
Funny thing is, people complain about gas, traffic, and alot of things, but don't take into consideration how beautiful it is. Gas is only $2.35-2.60 for a gallon, and their complaining about how expensive it is! Go to Engalnd and you'll end up paying $8-10 a gallon. These people complaining are the rich bastos who drive a Mercedes, Jaguar, Lexus. I mean come on. If you can afford a damn luxury vehicle, don't complain. If you got the money to spend it on that, then you got the money to drive that damn car! Sorry to go off subject, but I hope you get the point that I'm trying to make. Try and walk a mile in my shoes, and you'll understand my point.
And NO, I'm not a hipocrite. When I use the sink water, I collect it in a bucket thing and water the grass with the used water I used for myself. 
I don't mean to offend anyone at all or make you mad. So here is my apology and I humbly hope you can accept it. Just needed to get it off my chest. Also, where I work is a place where all the rich people shop, and I do mean rich. 
Here's a sad example of how people abuse the system here, or maybe a similar one to you if here it. My friend, who is a cashier was ringing up this lady who was all dressed up. I mean Louis Vutton bag, wallet, rolex watch, Channel glasses, and when her total came up. BAM! EBT card, for some folks, who don't know what EBT is food stamps. So, since it was slow, he helped her to her car, a expensive a** luxury car. A Lexus LS430, and a brand new one. So when he walked away, he said something like "cheating the system, the poor a** bitch" and she turned around and gave him the most meanest stink eye, but hey, I would've done the same thing.
Once again, SORRY. I just have all this anger built up, and trust me, I'm really a nice guy. Really ask Aaron, i may talk alot but I'm very humble. Thanks for reading what I have to say. I would love it, if you didn't go off on me, but I would love to hear or read your thoughts about this situation or a similar one. Thanks Eric.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

I hear ya Eriku.... I worked as a medic for years and was forced to carry lazy people down stairs when there was nothing wrong with them- they were just too lazy to walk and felt the world owed them everything. And they were dressed better than I was- gold everywhere, nice cell phones, expensive brand name clothes.... and I was working my butt off 60-80 hours a week.
There are legitimate needs for people to get assistance, but I think the whole welfare system should be gotten rid of except for helping people maybe one month every few years. What a drain on our economy. I'm not being unsympathetic, I've just seen daily the people who abuse the system and buy shrimp cocktail with food stamps while I watch what I spend and am forced as a public servant to eat crow and take care of these people.
I changed professions!


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Sorry Eriku, I know what you are saying. We definitely are abusing the natural resources of this planet, and many certainly seem to feel like the world owes them something. Substance abuse is also a scary factor, and turning this world into a world of drug seeking criminals...Hopefully, somehow, we'll be able to rise above that (although I'm not too certain we can). I think that all stems from a mis-guided belief that we should literally be 'happy' and 'free of pain' 100% all the time, and that just isn't the case. 

Anyway, I don't like to get vegies that are bruised, old, etc. but I usually don't dig around. Then again, Hawaii has much nicer produce than we have here (imagine that -- a rural farming community with terrible vegetables -- but then again, they farm tobacco here, something one can not eat...ok off my soapbox).


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

You make some very good points Eriku, and I can't see where they would offend anyone, unless they are the offenders - in which case they should step back and think and perhaps offer hard workers like you an apology. 
I've always thought that anyone who works in a job where you have to deal with the public deserves better pay for having to put up with so many of the rude people. Granted, there are lots of nice people out there, but it's those few who make it miserable for the others.
Even when I go shopping, I'm amazed at the amount of rude people, or the ones who think they're the only ones in the store, so they have the right to block the aisles, etc. You say "excuse me" to get past them, and they shoot dirty looks at you like you're bothering them.  
I know when I look for the perfect cut of meat, or whatever it might be, I always put the pile back exactly the way it was when I started. Same with clothes - I see a sales person spending all this time carefully folding everything, and on the other side of the shelf someone is rifling through the pile leaving it in a shambles. Why on earth would you have to do that just to find a certain size?

And don't even get me started on the abuses of public assistance.... A few years ago a graduating class had a job fair, and half of them said, "why would we go on to school or get a job when assistance is out there and it's our right?"
There are a few out there who really are having a temporary hard time, and they should be able to get it for a while, but it shouldn't be a crutch or lifestyle, which unfortunately it has become for way too many people. Then when you see them with all of those luxuries that many hard working people can't afford, there's a big problem with that picture.

Well, I guess I had my rant too.... ;-)


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## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

Eric,
You are the best! Next time I see you, I'm gonna give you a BIG HUG OKAY? Nah, just kidding... how about a firm handshake? 

It's all about respect and it is sad that people forget about it when it comes to stuff like that. It's one of the reasons why I hate shopping during a sale or at Christmas time. 

Gas prices do suck, especially if you live in the weeds like me. Makes me want to get a motorcycle or something.

As far as the food stamp thing, that REALLy gets me. What's even worse is their kids will often see none of the decadence. 

When I was in college in Washington state, it was kind of the in thing to do (get on welfare and collect food stamps) I never did, I had way too much pride but I knew guys that grew up in Mercer Island and Bellvue (uppity 'hoods) that did... and they'd brag about it too! Wow, weren't they just the coolest...


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## Lydia (Jun 20, 2005)

i know what you mean....i work at a grocery store and see people all the time that look really rich and buy with food stamps....and then there are the people that see me blocking the shelves (pulling all the stuff in front up so it looks like the shelves are full) and shove stuff back and pick stuff up and put it back down in the wrong place right after i block it! grrrrrrr :toimonst: ](*,)


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

I usually rummage through the organic romaine lettuce at our store to find the best looking ones. Caught myself last night putting them all back ever so carefully!!


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Most customers tend to pinch fruits as a test for ripeness, but I have found that sniffing tells me much more, and does not bruise the fruit. Peaches are often a problem here in Mississippi. They can be picked when they look good but are never going to get ripe. If you buy these premature peaches they will eventually get soft after 4 or 5 days, but they will not have any flavor. You can tell if they have no smell that they have been picked too early. 

There are some fruit varieties that can sit on the shelf for ever, but are always going to have about as much flavor as Styrofoam. There was a Japanese pear that was not pear-shaped, but round, like an apple, that was like that. It was about as much fun as eating wood shavings!


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## Mnemia (Nov 23, 2004)

Those Japanese pears (nashi) taste wonderful at the right time of year in Japan. I've never seen a good one for sale in the US though, sadly. I'm sure it's a similar thing to the peaches....trust me, they are GOOD when they're fresh.


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## cal75 (Jun 25, 2005)

The one thing I don't like is when you try to shop and everyone lately is on their cell phone! Like I want to hear what is going on in your life. I too am in the customer service biz. A glass shop and you wouldn't believe what people will do in a glass shop. They bring in children with no shoes and when I ask that they put on shoes, glass is in the carpet - no way to avoid - tiny pieces but hey they're there... and they refuse  I spend half my day cleaning glass cuz they need to slide their hands all over it. Hey - it's glass - we all know what it feels like. I even had someone bring in a huge dog! Do you know what slobber looks like when you don't clean immediately. I love my dogs, but would never bring them into a place where they shouldn't be.

I also clean up the aisles when I am checking out. Neurotic? Maybe, but I am going to teach my 3 year old son it is rude to pick up something and leave it 5 aisles over because you changed your mind. Bad enough when it is a box, but when they leave chicken and meats it is disgusting... I couldn't work in a grocery store, I would be locked up for slapping hands


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## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

Thanks for really understanding. I find that really dumb, that just because you don't want the item anymore, you just leave it somewhere else, especially when it's perishables. I hate that. Like hello, do you think there's enough food to go around the WORLD? Ungreatful B******! Anyways, thanks for understanding.
Hey Cal75, if I were you, in that glass shop, I would be like "NO shoes, no come in my store!" Or why don't you post a sign "NO appropriate footwear, not responsible" maybe that'll make'em understand. I too hate it when dogs are in a grocery store, especially when it's a health hazzard. I love dogs, but you have to understand the rules of the law. Thanks Eric.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Thanks for that, Eric! I think I needed a reality check... It didn't really occur to me that it might offend a hard-working employee when I "rummaged" through stuff at the store, and I can totally see where you're coming from. Every once in a while, though, I'm taken aback at finding moldy berries or packs of moldy bread still on the shelves, but lately, it's been rare. Yellow onions can be a mountain of gold or a pile of crud, and I'm not sure why this can vary so drastically from shipment to shipment at a single store, but I must confess that when it's the latter, I pick up and "inspect" like 20 onions for every one that I put in the bag. Even worse, sometimes I'll find myself making faces (cringing) as I pick up one mushy onion after the next. I know it's not the fault of anybody that's working there, so I should put on my poker face and move on to the [usually better] white onions. Almost as bad is when I open up the cartons of eggs to inspect them for any cracked ones. That probably irritates employees that see me doing it, but at almost $4 for a carton of 18 eggs (when they're not on sale), I want to make sure all 18 are usable. But I'll make sure I'll put them back in the way I found them  .

Grocery shopping is always an adventure for me. I'm only 4' 10" so sometimes, I need to be creative when I want something that's high up. I'm also sort of shy and don't want to trouble the employees to reach stuff for me, so, like, I'll do crazy stuff like go all the way down to the cleaning supplies aisle, get a toilet brush, go all the way back to the bread aisle, and use the handle to poke through the bars of the top rack to move the pack of hamburger buns to the edge of the shelf, where I can finally [barely] reach it. Of course I put the brush back, though. Sometimes, there will be stuff that's stacked on a top shelf, where I can only reach the bottom one, so I'll tip it so that the higher one falls, and I can catch it. Fortunately, I haven't broken anything this way... YET... As a customer, what irritates me at clothing stores is when they put size small on the TOP shelf. Now, how logical is that?! I think Target is set up this way, and in those cases, I'm afraid I'm guilty of not putting things back where I got them. It's physically impossible, when I had to literally jump up to knock a hanger off of a bar that's inches above my reach.

I digress...



> Those Japanese pears (nashi) taste wonderful at the right time of year in Japan. I've never seen a good one for sale in the US though, sadly. I'm sure it's a similar thing to the peaches....trust me, they are GOOD when they're fresh.


I used to LOVE going to Japan with my parents around November, when Satsuma oranges were in season. The kiosks at the train stations would sell 6-packs of them and practically before we got to the next train station, I would have finished off at least half of them. Each one was as perfect as the last... When they started appearing in the grocery stores around here, I eagerly bought some and was utterly disappointed to bite into a wedge of dry, tasteless pulp.

They grow like only one melon (a hybrid and hydroponically) in Japan. Each one is perfect, each one is pretty much guaranteed to taste good. And each one (the size of a cantaloupe or a small honeydew) is over $30. We pay nothing for gas compared to there, and being in California, we get many fruits and veggies year-round. So yeah - we really do have it good here in the States. I remember the big stink that people were making about it becoming harder to get a driver's license in California a few years ago. Imagine if those sixteen-year-olds were told that they also had to pay thousands of dollars just to apply for one?!?! And that was after paying thousands of dollars to attend driving school :shock: .

Thanks, Eric - you bring up an interesting topic, and I'm enlightened by the views of yourself and everybody's replies. Oh, I've been guilty of calling my husband from the grocery store to find out what he wants for dinner or which beer  he wants. Now I don't buy beer  for him because the cashier doesn't ask for my I.D.  . I try to talk quietly and make it very quick when I do use my cell phone. It's so rare I use it, too (hate the dang thing).

Happy shopping! 

-Naomi


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