Posted on 07/25/2011 1:52:36 PM PDT by pabianice
Late Friday afternoon, an employee of the Whole Foods Market in Toronto sent this epic resignation letter to the entire company. It's an alternatingly amusing, enlightening, and occasionally infuriating read but a good read, nonetheless.
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Dear Whole Foods Market,
My experience at Whole Foods was like an increasingly sped up fall down a really long hill. That got rockier with every metre. And eventually, just really spiky ... With fire, acid and Nickleback music. I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The "core values" essentially. However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bullshit they are:
Oh, you don't recycle properly? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you throw out enough food to feed a lot of hungry university students. (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you're asking me to put latex gloves on the sales floor so customers can throw a pair out for every handful of gummy bears they take? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you've installed massive television screens all over the store, sucking up energy and polluting the environment with tacky advertisements. (Caring about our communities and our environment, Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you waste an absurd amount of energy, ink and paper in your offices for useless bureaucratic nonsense. (Caring about our communities and our environment, Supporting team member happiness and excellence, )
Oh, you just write off 10-20% of the product that you buy for your bulk department because the bins look nice. (Caring about our communities and our environment).
Oh, you sometimes intentionally order too much just to guarantee a full shelf, knowing full well the product will most likely be thrown out? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you don't actually audit or evaluate each product you sell? (Caring about our communities and our environment, We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available)
Oh, you force team members to come in to work, on their day off, once a month, at 7 in the morning, knowing a lot of them live an hour away and the TTC isn't completely running that early in the morning and then force feed them useless updates on the company and embarrassingly artificial pep talks ([Redacted] once compared Whole Foods Market to religion... had to throw that in there. That was definitely a "Did she really just say that moment.")? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence, Caring about our communities and our environment)/
Oh, you buy poorly made, ugly t-shirts for your employees that will just be thrown in the trash and pretend they're gifts when they're really just advertising tools? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence, Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, the food here is really quite awful on average? Almost everything that prepared foods makes is terrible. The pizza used to be pretty good but the slices have shrunk, the toppings are sparser and it's usually extremely overcooked. The sandwiches are the stuff of nightmares. (It's amazing what advertising can make people think. It can even trick their senses.) (We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available)
Oh, you let some customers abuse your employees and then actually reward the customers for their behaviour and then trample on the integrity and honour of your abused employees? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you practice discrimination by offering "healthier" employees better discounts? And you think having different rules for new smoker employees versus old smoker employees is a good idea? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you purchase products from Israel (Or any distant country) if they're slightly cheaper than local alternatives? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you've somehow created the worst computer program I've ever used to run your entire buying system? IRMA is some Windows 95 era stuff, guys. I could design a significantly better interface in 30 minutes on a pad of paper. I know several students who could create a superior program in their spare time. Was someone actually hired to create that thing? Was it the Realplayer dudes? Even Captain Picard couldn't facepalm hard enough to express the amount of failure in that... that, thing... (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you push employees into greater responsibilities without compensation? Often having them essentially do all the work of a higher position without the pay? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence) Oh, you ambush employee's [sic] using two managers when you want to write someone up? No warning. No representation. All reasons and excuses fall on deaf ears. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence) Oh, you'd rather attempt to create some sort of fake "culture" with signs and forced meeting than let it happen naturally by letting employees socialize lightly as they work? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you like to manage "systems" instead of people? You don't hold critical thinking and discretion in high regard? You encourage blindly following rules? I.e., no recourse in challenging write ups. Employees given cold shoulder when they attempt anything like this. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence) Oh, you want us to politely call and let you know if we'll be late... but you'll still write us up when we arrive? Kind of a dick move, guys. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you actually think being 20 minutes late matters? You know Whole Foods Market is just a grocery store, right? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence) Oh, you don't believe inflation exists? Cost of living raises aren't given here? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
I notice a trend... Honestly, I could go on and on and fill out the details but since most people will just dismiss this email I should probably not put too much effort into it. I should have kept a blog
Now the employees have lost a lot of their former power and the store is being sucked into some centralized monster. Quality is being thrown out in favour of the people at the top having to do a little less work. Competition is being destroyed and you're not even pushing that many healthy products. Every second endcap is potato chips or pop or some sort of salt filled snack (Promoting the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education). A lot of the stuff in Whole Body doesn't even work or has absolutely no credible evidence to back any claims up. You're kind a faux hippy Wal-Mart now. Great. Job.
...and is OUTRAGED.
(lol)
Yes, dam them. They want you to work, be on time and sober. I couldn't take that crap either.
/sarc
b
Ha!! This is classic! Moonbat catering — it’s a tough business model.
These responders need to transfer to inner city community centers so they can get properly mugged and the survivors can get an actual grasp on this reality thing. Somehow they missed the Simpsons episode where the Simpsons go to a Whole Food market and the "pure" foods are ten time more expensive, and rot before they can be packed in recycled canvas bags.
Sometimes the "Simpson's" actually let some Truth leak thru. Not as often as "South Park," but, sometimes.
Yeah, the faux-hippie Wal-Mart.
>Its also a Obamacare thing. Whole Food CEO John Mackey has the audacity to offer his employees Health Savings Accounts. He penned an article in the WSJ touting the advantages of HSA over Obamacare. He will never be forgiven for that.<
Coincidentally, out of every groc store in L.A., Whole Foods is the one I just don’t go to. I’m not even boycotting it like it’s a lib place..it’s just the prices are expensive for me. Even if I give my money for anti-Obama businesses, the prices are just too much.
The arugula! She forgot about the high priced arugula!
Pretty much sums up the quality of the letter. The guy didn't even know when he was hired for a job he had held for 5 (or is that 6) years.
I had an interesting Saturday morning at a Whole Foods a while back. Went in early enough on a Saturday morning that the store was real slow. Went and bought some wine then went over the the cheese zone to get something. I had no real idea what to get so asked the girl behind the counter for advise. She checked out my wine choice then started giving me samples of several cheeses. Next, she said you really can't properly check out a cheese with a wine without wine so pulled a bottle from behind the counter, poured her and I a glass and I spent a very pleasant few minutes sipping the vino, chatting and trying out cheeses. Probably ended up buying more cheese than I planned though. LOL!
I noticed that right off the bat
I don’t have a dog in this fight. The employee seems like a self-important, whiny Lib. Then again, Whole Foods puts out an image of being a perfect Lib grocery store — organic food, caring about the environment, etc. There is one close to me and I won’t shop there. The employees look like liberals in the most anoying way. And the customers are they typical obnoxious Soccer Moms who have Obama / Biden bumper stickers on the backs of their monster SUVs. I won’t even get close to the place.
Very good
The writer is right. Whole Foods was started by a couple of hippy communists in Austin. But once the millions started rolling in they now only pretend to be communists.
It has always been there. Except now, it's fashionable so they do not hesitate to flaunt the hatred. Hatred they dress up as social commentary. But hatred nonetheless.
That was written by a girl? I assumed a guy.
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