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Why Whole Foods Is America’s Angriest Store
Observer ^ | • 05/01/15 12:23pm | Nils Parker

Posted on 11/04/2018 9:20:10 PM PST by conservative98

The problem with Whole Foods is their regular customers. They are, across the board, across the country, useless, ignorant, and miserable. They’re worse than miserable, they’re angry. They are quite literally the opposite of every Whole Foods employee I’ve ever encountered. Walk through any store any time of day—but especially 5:30pm on a weekday or Saturday afternoon during football season—and invariably you will encounter a sneering, disdainful horde of hipster Zombies and entitled 1%ers.

They stand in the middle of the aisles, blocking passage of any other cart, staring intently at the selection asking themselves that critical question: which one of these olive oils makes me seem coolest and most socially conscious, while also making the raw vegetable salad I’m preparing for the monthly condo board meeting seem most rustic and artisanal?

If you are a normal human being, when you come upon a person like this in the aisle you clear your throat or say excuse me, hoping against hope that they catch your drift. They don’t. In fact, they are disgusted by your very existence. The idea that you would violate their personal shopping space—which seems to be the entire store—or deign to request anything of them is so far beyond the pale that most times all they can muster is an “Ugh!”

Over the years I have tried everything to remain civil to these people, but nothing has worked, so I’ve stopped trying. Instead, I walk over to their cart and

(Excerpt) Read more at observer.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: amazon; anger; hipsters; wholefoods; wholefoodstrolls
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To: conservative98
There's a new store in our area owned by Bristol Farms that is called Lazy Acres. The name makes it sound like a down home place with polite people who are looking for good deals on food.

It is anything but. It is basically Bristol Farm's answer to Whole Food. I didn't encounter any angry people. What I encountered were people who looked scarily like those people in the 50-something drug company commercials. You know, the people pushing their 50s who through diet, exercise, and plastic surgery look like they're in their late 40s.

The place had a Stepford Wives vibe to it: a humongous salad bar with the most artisinal produce you could imagine.

Interestingly though, the place had a really small selection of bread. It seems that they are glute-o-phobes.

And of course everything was priced to appeal to those who desperately want to pay more for everything since it gives them that sense of superiority you can only get from mindless consumerism.

21 posted on 11/04/2018 10:47:29 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: conservative98

I just get a kick how everything in the store has to have some sort of politically correct twist, be it organic, fair trade, free range, or whatever...


22 posted on 11/04/2018 10:49:51 PM PST by Unam Sanctam
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To: conservative98


I shopped at the original Whole Foods in austin back in the '80s.

I went into a local one here a few years ago; didn't buy anything then, either.


23 posted on 11/04/2018 10:51:38 PM PST by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: conservative98

NSFW video of a man in a soup buffet

https://twitter.com/Jason/status/1056701522845659137

YOU HAVE BEEN WANRED!


24 posted on 11/04/2018 10:57:19 PM PST by GraceG ("If I post an AWESOME MEME, STEAL IT! JUST RE-POST IT IN TWO PLACES PLEASE")
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To: conservative98

I’m not reading this article.

Whole Foods has some customers that fit stereotypes. So does effing Walmart. I’m ok with the country being filled with choices on where to shop, and how to live.

I believe health is essential to life, and eating is essential to health. We do become what we eat. Less pesticides is better for our brains. Our bodies should be made from the cleanest animal products we can find. Whole Foods has the best produce and meats and fish of anywhere else around here. I do shop there for those items, or others that I can’t find elsewhere.

I’m getting tired of blanket put downs of others, from the left or the right. It’s not what Gd wants for this country.


25 posted on 11/04/2018 11:09:35 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: Jamestown1630

I don’t shop there. I sometimes go to Sprouts because their produce tends to be even cheaper than aldies,and in better condition, too.


26 posted on 11/04/2018 11:12:34 PM PST by PrairieLady2
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To: Mears

“The most BORING article I have ever read on FR.”

Never been to a Whole Foods, but if the author is correct about the customers, I find that fact interesting.


27 posted on 11/04/2018 11:15:42 PM PST by dsc (Our system of government cannot survive one-party control of communications.)
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To: qaz123

Well said, qaz. “...keeping up with the Jones” is so true. And it’s a big blind spot for Libs.

It would be interested to read an authoritative survey of Whole Foods customers to get an accurate view of who they are.

Jeff Bezos obviously did that survey (by looking inside his own Amazon data) and he liked what he saw. Libs are a pain to please, but they are very profitable customers.


28 posted on 11/04/2018 11:18:54 PM PST by poconopundit
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To: Yaelle

“I’m getting tired of blanket put downs of others, from the left or the right. It’s not what Gd wants for this country.”

As long as we’re speaking for God, I don’t think He wants us to be defeated and ruled by the forces of evil, among whom are numbered the demonrats and the rest of the left.


29 posted on 11/04/2018 11:21:43 PM PST by dsc (Our system of government cannot survive one-party control of communications.)
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To: conservative98

I can buy just about everything I want...on-line.


30 posted on 11/04/2018 11:22:56 PM PST by Osage Orange (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Nevertheless, I can sure empathize with his dealings with other customers.

They are every where!

And he’s given me some great ideas on how to deal with other shoppers.


31 posted on 11/04/2018 11:31:47 PM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I thought the same thing. I was wondering if he realized he was one of the very people he described.

I went one time. Was not impressed and never went back.


32 posted on 11/04/2018 11:50:03 PM PST by HollyB
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To: Yaelle


Whole Foods has the best produce and meats and fish of anywhere else

you are a merchandiser's dream!


33 posted on 11/04/2018 11:56:56 PM PST by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: conservative98

I tend to agree

The hippie kids who work there are usually pretty friendly even if I’m in cammo....yes I do it on purpose

The urban one in Nashville is awful with snotty unfriendly progressives

The suburban one in Cool Springs Franklin is not too bad....really hot well heeled soccer moms in of course their uniform

Panty hose tight yoga pants demonstrating their vulvalar dispositions and Reeboks and tank top in summer and fleece in winter with hair tied back

Ball cap optional , Louis bag de rigeur

It’s still weird but tolerable

I go for salmon spread, cheeses, unhomogenized milk, soaps..my weakness, and lavender and cedar oil for the tub

That’s about it..

Wifey is sorta hippie so she buys the organic overpriced stuff but that’s ok...she’s in great shape

We’ve got Turnip Truck and other more intense prog markets which are much worse for the freak parade


34 posted on 11/04/2018 11:59:36 PM PST by wardaddy (I donÂ’t care that youÂ’re not a racist......when the shooting starts it wonÂ’t matter what you were)
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To: Mears

Whole Foods shopper are ya, lol?


35 posted on 11/05/2018 12:02:11 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: Yaelle

I know it does not apply to all, because I shop there occasionally: I have nearly thirty years in that industry, and I am consistently polite - whether as an employee or as a customer.

On occasion, I have helped shoppers there myself, since I know virtually all products in the industry, even though I do not work at Whole Foods. I have even given free mini-lectures on nutrition to curious persons in the aisles.

WF once offered me a job, but after an extensive interview, it was clear I would be taking a pay cut and be working even harder (she said as much, since I knew more than anyone there). I passed.

I do not shop there as often, but I still do. They have certain items I require, such as Westbrae Unsweetened Ketchup (formerly, Unketchup).

I often now shop at Sprouts, which is more affordable and closer to me. Also, the Amazon takeover has had a deleterious effect on policies and morale. I know this from my contacts in the industry, as well as from what I have learned in articles, and what I observe as an industry veteran.

(I have published one Kindle on nutrition, and am writing others.)


36 posted on 11/05/2018 12:07:50 AM PST by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: Jamestown1630

Just about any of the organic type grocery chains will have the same crowd. Locally, Earth Fare is famous for the sour-faced anorexic cat ladies tottering slowly up and down the aisles. The only exception to that rule I can think of would be Fresh Market, if you have those where you are. It’s not quite so self-consciously catering to the organic crowd but beautiful produce, beautiful deli selections, hard to find high quality seasonings, etcetera. Not nearly as snotty of a crowd for whatever reason. Prices aren’t quite up there with Whole Foods either, but I would never call Fresh Market cheap. You want cheap, deal with Food Lion and their on again off again stocking of items you typically buy. One week it’s there, the next it isn’t, maybe it’ll pop up again at some point in the future, maybe not. Very easy to shop cheaply if you can deal with that.


37 posted on 11/05/2018 12:09:11 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: conservative98

You can order for pickup and have a college student do the pickup and then deliver your groceries directly to your home.


38 posted on 11/05/2018 12:20:49 AM PST by Architect of Avalon
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To: conservative98

Whole Foods Celebrates, Monetizes Ramadan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2757106/posts


39 posted on 11/05/2018 12:46:53 AM PST by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: Yaelle
Well said, you changed my mind, which for better or worse is something I don’t say all that often. We don’t have a Whole Foods where I live, but I have been there in other cities I have visited. I also freely confess to having high (or is it just picky, elitist?) standards and habits when it comes to food. And I recognize at least in stereotype the types of customers the person described in the article (which I thought was funnier, if meaner, than some people here are giving it credit for) — whiny, solipsistic leftists.

But I agree with you, the bottom line is the country is big enough for all of us to have places to shop. When it comes to grocery stores, as with many things, we should live and let live.

40 posted on 11/05/2018 12:56:28 AM PST by untenured
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