Kraft Singles and Feminine Products

I was visiting my local grocery store recently. It’s like the neighborhood store, where you feel like you know folks. You know that song from Cheers that goes, "Where everybody knows your name...?" Well that is kind of how it feels. We typically show our faces there a lot. Me a few times a week, and the King Fish like every other night. They know us there… trust me. So, I’m sure it seems like we moved to Kalamazoo or something since the King Fish has been traveling so much. As a matter of fact, a gentleman we know who helps bag and such even commented on how he hasn’t seen the King Fish in awhile. Scary huh?

I hate to grocery shop when the King Fish is out of town…..so I’m typically in there once a week. That’s all. If I don’t “need” it, then we’ll just make do with what I have here in the house until he returns. My once a week trip will suffice. Plus it’s been so daggone cold here who wants to venture out to the grocery store? I mean really??

But I was in there recently as I mentioned, and I was in the checkout line. Now, you have to know… I almost always have a good experience at this store. Employees are friendly, and polite. But this evening they had a young man as a bagger, and I’m sure he was friendly, he just needed to learn to button his lip and keep his opinions to himself. He was loud to boot, which only added to the annoyance. I might not have noticed him but I was in the line checking out next to him…. and as I mentioned he was loud.

I first heard him talking and then looked up to see him holding in the air a Kraft cheese pack of singles. You know those cheese squares that almost every mom has given her kids in a grilled cheese sandwich. He holds it up and says, “Is Kraft Cheese really cheese? You know because it says right on the package… A Cheese Product. What is really in this stuff they say is cheese? Yeah right, I’m sure it’s cheese.” (Insert loud laughter as he laugh at his own sense of humor). I could see the customer, a young woman, looking oddly uncomfortable as both sides of the aisle turned to see what the commotion was about. I felt sorry for her.

I was thinking about that encounter for several days and I have to say it still irks me. I mean, why in the world would that employee comment unfavorably on a customer’s product choice, and why would he draw attention to it? I know it may be considered small talk, and he may have thought he was “making conversation”. Or maybe he really just didn’t have a clue about manners or being tactful. Heck, he probably wasn’t aware of those two silly words Customer Service, though I know it’s been drilled into him since day one of training!

As I wonder about it, I can only hope that when he is slightly older, his wife will send him out on an errand for feminine products. And when he goes to check out, the price won’t scan. And with a long line behind him, the checker will have to announce loudly over the intercom system:

“Price check on aisle 9. Tampax Tampons.”

Maybe that will teach him. :-) Yeah, I’m just mean like that.