This morning I received a phone call from a ‘survey taker’. Now I would usually say that I’m not interested and politely hang up, but something about this young woman’s demeanor made me continue to listen.
She worked for a marketing firm and they were taking a survey about grocery stores. I decided to cooperate. I’m glad I did because in some very small way I was able to get my revenge on a local grocery store. I am not naming the store but it’s well known and I rarely go there anymore because of the ridiculous wait times. Also their meat is terrible. So for all the times I was forced to wait in line behind shoppers with full carts when I had only 3 items because only two registers were open, I was finally able to have my say where it may count. Muwa ha ha (evil laugh)
This store is nice and clean, the employees are friendly and its in an area that is easily accessible. However, no one I know likes to go to this grocery store (its not just THIS one either, its all of their stores) because of the extremely long wait times at the register. Grrrr.
I notice grocery stores are closing like crazy but this one still manages to stay in business. Maybe this survey is just a prelude to its demise. I can only hope. After the basic survey was through, she started to ask those dreaded personal questions…i.e. how many people are in your family, how much is your total household income, etc. I interrupted and said that I didn’t wish to answer any personal questions and she said that was fine.
After I hung up I started thinking about all the grocery stores that were once in existence. What in the world happened to them all? I can think of five right off the top of my head that we no longer have around here any more. I know of two empty buildings that are fairly new which used to be grocery stores.
Another thing that is changing, very slowly but changing, nevertheless, are the malls or shopping centers as we knew them. The super malls are beginning to be a thing of the past. In place of them are the mini malls or strip malls. I’m not in marketing so I don’t know what the appeal would be for them over the super mall except for maybe ease of entering and exiting. Also lots of kids are known to hang out at the malls and can sometimes intimidate the shoppers or just plain cause a distraction. The parking lots for these places are huge. Ever lose your car in one of them? I have and its downright scary. I used to imagine it would be great if we pushed the remote button on our key chains and your car would start up and come to you. A while back they sold these brightly colored balls that you could put on your radio antenna so you could find your car easily in a crowded lot. One big problem….lots of people bought them so you were looking at a sea of brightly colored balls sitting atop antennas. Glad I never fell for that one. I just look for the antenna that has nothing on it. LOL
3 comments:
The grocery I go to used to have about a dozen checkout lanes and only two or three were open at any given time, even if there were a lot of shoppers. Then they remodeled it and added a lot of organic foods and kosher foods. I wonder how well the organic will sell, because we're not in a high-income area, and even if you're aware of the pesticides, etc. you'll probably still go for the regular stuff, not more expensive organic.
I prefer strip malls (sounds dirty, doesn't it?) because I don't have to walk three miles to find what I want. And with my mom being old and not in the best of health, we rarely go to the mall anymore, and I don't miss it.
I have trouble finding my car because it's pretty common-I've even tried to put my key in someone else's door lock a few times-but I know my car because it has two missing hubcaps and the other two are in terrible shape. If I had 4 nice hubcaps it would be harder to find! ;-)
Strange you should talk about grocery stores - as I got upset with one I usually shop at. I wasn't feeling well... and I needed to go grab a few things as quickly as possible. Long story short - I left and went to a different store. (Of course I bought all sorts of cold meds - and maybe they helped me feel better.)
The lines don't bother me as much as the fact that you seem to be expected to bag your own groceries around here. I hate that! If I were at a discount place where it's expected - that's one thing - but a regular grocery store should either employee enough folks to do it or setup the counter in such a way that it's easy for the checker to do it while they're ringing up your items. AND, I'm also tired of being asked how I am doing, responding with "fine, thanks, and you?" and being greeted with a list of complaints or "rotten because I have to work today".
Man, this topic seems to have elicited quite a rant from me! See what you started?! ;)
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