pavilions

I am standing in line at the checkout lane at our local supermarket called Pavilions. I have my usual four grocery bags of items to purchase and watch as the prices are scanned and appear on the register. I submit my Pavilions Grocery Card, and the cashier says to me, Mr. Buncher, you saved $ 18.32. Knowing she is the innocent and working hard for a living, knowing that most likely when she goes grocery shopping she probably pays the same prices as I, and knowing that I am one of at least 100 customers she must have repeated you saved x amount of dollars using your Pavilions Card, I could still not refrain from saying the following. If the prices were not jacked up to begin with perhaps I wouldn’t need this scam of a card to try and convince me I saved money. Perhaps if you kept prices reasonable to begin with and not try to fool everyone that shopping at your store was penny wise and a real reward to the shoppers, you would not have to remind me of the savings. Perhaps if your prices didn’t change day to day or week to week, when the cost of your merchandise has stayed the same then I wouldn’t have to hear what a favor shopping at Pavilions has done for my budget.

I said all of the above in one breath,without any punctuation in a monotone but sarcastic voice, looking her in the eye and upon the uttering of my final accusation feeling foolish but relieved had her say to me, do you need help carrying the bags to your car?

I am standing at the deli counter at the same Pavilions Super Market. This is not a location you should attempt to stand if you suffer from ulcers, have jittery nerves, or find that when time goes by so slowly with no movement you feel faint. There are two other women standing there looking as if the Grim Reaper has just warned them that they are going to die, but think maybe it was just someone in a Halloween outfit so they were not sure if they should be scared or not. When I entered the no service zone the two women looked at me not saying a word, but expressing to me via the rolling of the eyes, and swaying from one foot to another that if I stayed too long I might turn to dust. I tried to prepare myself for the possible WAIT, but somehow seeing the severity of angst in these ladies eyes, I thought no way, no how. I asked them if either one was being helped? I asked if they had seen the person working behind the counter? I asked how long they had been waiting? But I did not wait for the answer and walked two feet away to the bakery counter where there were 4 employees standing, joking and laughing.

“Excuse me” I said in what I consider my most obnoxious, don’t you know the customer is right voice, “but do you know if we can get any help at the deli counter”? They looked at me and over to the deli counter, and some woman with a smile so sickly sweet said “oh I am sure someone will help you soon.” I then smiled even harder than she, and with out once actually moving my lips said there are three people over there, and no service person, there are four of you over here and no customers, I don’t want to wait.” The sweep of the heads of the four people behind the counter as they all looked to the left, the deli counter, then back to me, and then back to the deli counter was as if a Category One Hurricane just hit the place.

The smiley women was about to say something to me as I could see her trying to place the smile on her lips, when a young woman with a cake in her hand said to me as she stood in front of the smiley woman, “of course we can”.

It took five more minutes to find someone and when they did, the woman said something in Spanish to the young girl, looked at me a if I just had a voodoo hex placed on my head and said to the three of us sorry we kept you waiting. The two ladies demurely smiled acted awkward and said some silly thing under their breath like I guess it is alight. I said, realizing that this person was only making minimum wage and probably didn’t create the counter schedule. I realized that she might have been on a break or sorting out deli meats or cheeses. I realized that maybe she just started this shift. But I was not going to stand there and say oh its alright, when in fact it was NOT alright or okay, or just a one time circumstance. And the voodoo cursing woman said to me “we have a special on baked ham.”

Same Pavilions and for some reason there is no reason or rhyme as to where some types of food are on display. I needed bread crumbs and immediately went to the bread aisle looking for them. Not seeing them at first I thought that maybe I didn’t look close enough or they were right in front of me so obvious to see that I was blinded by the ease at which I should have found them. Scouring the aisle and the shelves literally looking high and low and not finding the bread crumbs I went on a hunt for assistance.

At Pavilions some Vice President of Communications or some marketing firm must have had a brain storm and decided that their employees, when actually in the front of the store and not in the back, should walk up to customers and say, “hello have you found everything okay”? There must have been an in-store workshop, where the workshop leaders ran out of time or patience and forgot to teach the employees two important features of working with the public. One is that you must look the person in the face as you speak to them so they know you are actually talking to them and not the ketchup or pickles and two, that you should also stand there and wait for the answer to the question they just asked.

I found hello my name is Bill, and politely said excuse me sir. He looked up from some of the boxes he was opening and said, “hello, have you found what you are looking for is everything okay”? I tried to jump in on the first part of the question but he was on speed dial and had to ask both questions before he could breathe. Apparently the three seconds it took for me to wonder if he had just one more thing to say was way too slow and hello my name is Bill turned back to his boxes and his work. I said “no I have not found what I was looking for and it is not okay.” He looked up at me as if he was a deer in the headlights, he was about to repeat the lines from the script the marketing people told him to say but to ease the pain of hearing it once again and perhaps embarrassing him I said, bread crumbs, just tell me where you hide the bread crumbs”.

He stood up and said to me “oh, well I am not sure, let me find someone who can help”. He sped away and about 5 minutes later brought hello my name is Shirley. I was about to ask where I might find the bread crumbs, but Shirley looking at Bill said “hello, have you found everything okay? I intervened before she finished with her heart rendering rendition of “and is everything okay” and said “it is not okay all I want is for you to please just tell me which aisle I can find the bread crumbs.”

Not hearing the part of my question , please tell which aisle, Shirley walked away as if she had become a GPS, a silent GPS, with me following. We got to aisle number 8 just one aisle east of where we were standing. Shirley walked to the bread crumbs handed me the carton and said to me “have you found everything you were looking and is everything okay”? I said, understanding that she was just following orders. That she was doing what she was told. That she was being pulled away from some other grocery store business. “Do you ever listen to the people you are talking to”? Do you realize that they may have more to say then the two questions you ask”? And aded “how frustrating this is”? And Shirley said, “can I help you find anything else”?

I have reached the point in my life where false promises, lack of genuine, pretense and pretend don’t do it for me. I am tired of being told someone did me a favor when in fact nothing was accomplished. I don’t want to accept second best when the potential for best can be reached. I will no longer listen to fabrication as truth, and falsehoods as the norm. Pavilions is just a small microcosm of life but a perfect example of never trying hard enough or only trying to reach mediocrity.

Maybe I got angry at the wrong people, but when does it stop? Who should take responsibility to make change happen? When does anyone take notice? When?