2006jun06. Mail.
I don’t know if this is the appropriate place for this. As a long time customer at Trader Joe’s, I find the attitude of the employees has changed dramatically ... for the worse. The only store I noticed this at is at 555 9th St., San Francisco, CA 94103, where I have shopped happily for several years. An employee said that new management took over about 8 months ago.
This is always the appropriate place for that. The staff at Trader Joe’s are all displaced IT workers. They’ve gone from their $80k jobs with eleven-hour tube-starin’ days to $20k eight-hour box-cuttin’ days. Home ownership is no longer feasible. That’s my theory, anyway. But really, I’d rather the workers were surly, myself, clawing at you with sharpened fingernails and such. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel like a complete zombie while shopping. The stores I visit should also be on fire. Then you’d have to prioritize. Go to the back, try the sample selection, dodge the falling shelves, run to get some cereal before it combusts. Then at the register you have to put in the ear plugs to work your way past the SRL show. Now who’s alive? NOW WHO’S ALIVE????