Company Blog

The Underappreciated

by Adam Zack — January 5, 2022

The easiest job in the world is the Amateur Critic.

The easiest job in the world is the Amateur Critic. You know the guy who goes into a restaurant and complains that his water is too cold or that the music’s too loud. He bitches about not enough (or too much) dressing on the salad and that the grill marks on the steak should be perpendicular to the grain of the meat and not parallel. They are frequent Yelpers and feel superior sharing their “experiences”. These types of people next lead into “If this were my restaurant, things would be different around here.” And sometimes the rich ones actually DO buy the restaurant or start their own with the intentions to offer just the right temperature water and perfect amount of dressing with 90 degree parallel grill marks on the steak. They soon find out that there are about 1000 other things that are more important that they didn’t consider and before you know it, there’s an available restaurant space on the market and they have a big tax write off. It’s very similar with food stores. The deli salads have spilled over, the bread section is wiped and for God’s sake why are there only 3 rotisserie chickens in the warmer? The wastebasket in the men’s room is almost full, the soda cans are not turned with the labels facing out, the cashier – what’s her name – she has no name tag! – is chewing gum and good God Frank didn’t shave again today. This place is going to hell in a handbasket! Just who is steering this ship? Like most businesses, it’s the little things that add up to the success of the business. It’s also the little things that go largely unappreciated because it seems so easy to stand back and criticize for not being done. So the next time the bathroom’s out of towels, there’s carts in the lot, the hand sanitizer is empty or the napkin holder is out of napkins, remember that the store management has set their standards higher than yours and is on top of the other 997 things, but maybe today towels were shorted by the paper company, Karen called out sick (again!), the new kid forgot to check the lot and two key people are on vacation after having worked 70 hours the week from Christmas to New Years.

Here’s to the outstanding operators who deal with the daily calamities of the grocery business, especially during the last two years of Covid. There’s none better or more dedicated. Or under appreciated. Here’s to the grocery workers who’ve kept their smile over under their masks and stuck it out for the past two years. You are special.