Posted on 03/07/2011 9:56:48 PM PST by Charles Henrickson
The DUmmies are always eager to report and decry any instances of EEEvil management, particularly if it's a white male, oppressing poor downtrodden labor, especially if it's a woman or a minority--and an older woman is even better. So this THREAD, "Lost in the supermarket," is right up the DUmmies' alley. It tells the tale of a rude young manager chewing out an older bagging lady, right in front of DUmmie lapislzi, who witnessed it and was appalled.
Of course, DUmmie lapislzi may be fictionalizing or exaggerating what actually happened, and, like the other DUmmies who join in, may be jumping to huge conclusions withour knowing the full story. But, hey, that's what makes them DUmmies!
So let us grab our grocery carts and proceed to the checkout line, where we will now witness the Shaming of the Shebagger, in Bolshevik Red, while the commentary of your humble guest correspondent, Charles Henrickson--an evil white male himself, but also, since today is my 58th birthday, getting older, which makes me less bad--is in the [brackets]:
Lost in the supermarket
[Lost in the supermarket: all sense of perspective]
...or, "Heartbreak in Hannaford's."
[Or, "Chekhov at the Checkout."]
I had a bunch of errands to run yesterday, including a supermarket run. I usually avoid the local Hannaford's (a New England based chain) because they're non-union. BUT. I had other stops to make in the same shopping center. BUT. They have the best produce, good prices, and the best local/organic food section around.
[No excuses! By patronizing this non-union store, you are a TRAITOR to the cause, a SCAB! I think we'll call you Traitor Joe!]
I'm at the checkout with my fairly sizable order--and of course, I eschew the self-checkouts for the human ones.
[Of course. The real reason is that you're too stupid to figure out how to use the self-checkout, but you'll cloak this inability as your choice to keep a worker employed. How noble of you.]
I have my reusable bags.
["Paper or plastic?" "Neither! I'm an environmentally conscious greenie, can't you tell?"]
An older lady (60s?) with an apron and a name badge takes my bags and starts bagging my groceries--very efficiently, I might add. She had a sunny and pleasant demeanor. . . .
[Our Prole hero. Can you see the plot starting to build? We await the entrance of the evil management type.]
Then, another kid (20s?), presumably the head cashier or store manager (I'd seen him at another register keying in an override, or some such), steps over.
[Boo! Hiss! Our villain enters, Simon Legrocery, twirling his moustache.]
"What time did you clock in, today, Pat?" he asked the bagging lady. "Ten," she replied. He wagged a finger at her. "It was 10:17, Pat."
[NOOO!!! How EEEvil!! Reprimand a tardy worker?? How could he DO such a thing???]
She began apologizing profusely. "What are we going to do about this, Pat?" he asked. "I'll make it up," she said, "you know, I've been staying later some nights." "That's part of the job," he said.
[Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! She's being repressed!]
I had to blink back tears. Hard.
[DUmmie lapislzi, WEEPING for all oppressed workers everywhere! Even if they're late. Maybe chronically late, you don't know. And even if all they get is a mild reprimand and a wagged finger.]
As I made a note of the name on his badge. Hannaford's will be getting a letter.
[That'll show 'em!]
But that doesn't make me feel any better, because this is symptomatic of so much more. How our older people have to take menial jobs to make ends meet. How callous our disregard for our fellow workers. It was "young store manager who will move on in a year or so" against "lady who needs a job."
[Which you don't know. Maybe she just likes to get out of the house and do something. Or maybe the manager usually would reprimand in private, but slipped up this one time. But that wouldn't fit your Marxist melodrama, would it?]
No sense of solidarity.
[Store manager and shebagger, rising up TOGETHER, locking arms, standing tall against The Man, shoulder to shoulder, speaking TRUTH TO POWER!! YEEEAAAARRRGGHHH!!!]
And those strawberries? By the time I got them home, those foreign strawberries tasted like straw. I lost my appetite.
[Strawberries Failed For Meddler.]
You should have reamed him a new one right there. . . .
[The benburch approach.]
I think we ALL should write Hannaford's.
[DUAC! DUAC!]
a very polite, "Excuse me, sir, may I speak to you for a moment?", take him aside and a quiet, "I think you are a rude little scumbag on a power trip and I should do the same thing to you that you just did to Pat but I have too much class, and I'm going to report your inexcusable rudeness to Corporate office" would have sufficed. . . .
[Of course, this didn't happen, but the tough talk sounds nice in an echo chamber.]
I would have let the @$$hole have it....and good
[Calm down, ben!]
Tape a thumb tack to your finger and squeeze the milk and juice containers.
[WakiLeaks.]
we dont know what is going on. what if she is consistently late? . . . we really dont know what is happening with this employee, do we?
[Whaa-at?? She's LABOR, for goodness' sakes! And a WOMAN! How DARE you question her??]
Management, Ma'am, Is Best Presumed Guilty....
[DUmmie Default Mode.]
manager cant win, regardless of how he phrases. he dare to say something about employee being late, and HE is the bad guy. wtf? sounds like he tried to make it as nonoffensive as he could. . . .
[LOUSY FREEPER TROLL!!!]
i dont think it is a HUGE deal. that is all. yet.... you would think i am promoting the lashing of an employee.
[You're as bad as the store manager! To The Hague with the both of you!]
the entire purpose of putting a particular individual in charge of others is that person can effectively LEAD. anyone can BERATE!
[Anyone can BE LATE!]
Clearly, there is only one way to see it - my way/our way. We now have the embodiment of all evil in this young manager and he needs to spend at least an hour on the pillory with we, the self-righteous and perfect, heaping our derision upon him.
[Grab the tomatoes from the produce section!]
this has become a joke
[It's the DUmmie Way!]
there is/was a better way for the manager to handle this situation but in the big picture of workplace happenings this was relatively no big deal.
[And we put a Kewpie Doll in your bag!]
Happier story about older worker: Ralph's employee of the year. . . . she looked to be over 50, maybe nearer to 60.
[Probably 58, which is ANCIENT!]
It’s a complex religion with all sorts of rules. Never go to a non union store, or have plenty of excuses if you do, don’t buy the long range fruits, go in the line with the live checker, bring your own bags. . .
and that’s just for running one simple errand.
No wonder so many of them are on meds. You just can’t possibly meet all the requirements, day to day. It’s a cruel bondage.
You are quite right. The issue is not what was said to the employee, which sounds entirely appropriate, it’s that he made a customer uncomfortable.
Admittedly an idiotic customer. But still.
"I had a bunch of errands to run yesterday, including a supermarket run. I usually avoid the local Hannaford's (a New England based chain) because they're non-union. BUT. I had other stops to make in the same shopping center. BUT. They have the best produce, good prices, and the best local/organic food section around."
Gee, wonder if this DUmmie understands that "they're non-union" has anything to do with "They have the best produce, good prices, and the best local/organic food section around"? Probably not -- my guess is that the Dummie is just too d@mn stupid to...
“It was grossly inappropriate for the manager to dress down any employee in front of a customer. This may be the first time Ive agreed with any DUmmie. On anything.”
Um, you’re assuming this actually happened, which I for one seriously doubt...
Employees with bad habits and bad work ethics are a waste of time in the first place. Taking this lady to the office would have been another waste of time. I’ve tried to explain so many things to so many employees so many times and they will never get it, so I don’t berate them in front of the customer. I tell them when I have time, privately that if they want a job, they will do things my way. They either do or they don’t and that determines whether they will work for me or not. I am not hard to get a long with. Those who do the most get rewarded. The dead weight gets cut. It’s that simple. I don’t play games.
While this is a boo hoo moment, someone needs to take the young wannabe manager aside and chew his butt good. Any 2-striper in the military knows you don’t attack a subordinate in public. How about this as an example. The Air Guard had just been giving a new airplane type and the first unit promptly flew one into the side of a mountain. A four-star head of the responsible command diverted to the unit’s headquarters. After the general had received an update on the details he pulled the unit commander aside and said, “If your unit destroys another airplane, I’m going to come to your house and burn it down...with your wife and kids still inside. Do I make myself clear?”
I like the “tacky” DUmmie whose solution is to destroy private property and put public health at risk.
Good thinking! *for a 12 year old*
Funny!! But praise in public, reprimand in private should be in bold on the cover of every newby manager’s handbook.
Happy Birthday Reverend...here’s to a lot more years and a lot more DuFus before the Lord calls us all home
Tape a thumb tack to your finger and squeeze the milk and juice containers.
Yeah! That's the ticket.
Violate the Federal Food Tampering Act(1). What's 15-20 years in FEDERAL Prison.
(1) I think that's what its called. It was enacted after the Tylenol Poisoning Deaths in Chicago back in the 80's.
Hmmm... Since you were born just a couple of days after Joe Stalin died, are you sure you are not his reincarnation?
Imho, Shaw’s has better produce, a better deli area, and the employees are much, much nicer and professional than Hannaford’s. But that’s just me.
OT but did you know that Walmart now accepts Walgreens Register Rewards? Your humble correspondent is now thinking...FREE GAS!!!!!!!
Slightly OT but the BEST strawberries in the world are the Oxnard strawberries out of Oxnard, CA. Your humble correspondent once had a farm connection there and sold those strawberries on flats to the public. They are the size of about 3/4 the size of a fist. If you never had them before, you MUST try them. The taste is INCREDIBLE.
This is way too much of a set-piece story. The evil non-union grocery chain (which, BTW, has good product and low prices...), the -aw common, people in their 60’s are elderly aren’t they...just say it- older checkout clerk who’s so nice and efficient, and the villain, who’s in his (a male of course) 20’s, thus inept and clueless and, oh so evil himself. After all, he’s in management so that’s a given. FAIL!
With the new Walmart policy of accepting WAG RRs, you can buy ANYTHING you want now at Walmart (except alcohol and tobacco) for FREE!!!
p.s. I scored my first FREE sugar and coffee at Walmart yesterday using my WAGS RRs.
Happy Birthday, Charles. You’re the same age as my wife (I married a youngster...).
Too bad we don’t have sound effects.
Happy birthday!
[No excuses! By patronizing this non-union store, you are a TRAITOR to the cause, a SCAB! I think we'll call you Traitor Joe!]
Well, that explains why DUmmies never have any extra money. They have to keep supporting the unions.
["Paper or plastic?" "Neither! I'm an environmentally conscious greenie, can't you tell?"]
Those nasty reusable shopping bags were likely made in China and have lead in the coating.
[And we put a Kewpie Doll in your bag!]
As a manager, I'd have handled this a little different.
BTW, Happy Birthday pastor. I have you by a year ad a few weeks.
New Walmart policy went into effect last week and a lot of Walmarts are still not up to speed on the new policy so today will check out another Walmart. I'm thinking FREE gasoline in the near future!
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