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Are Trader Joe's Employees Too Friendly?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jun 27, 2011
Modified Jun 27, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jun 27, 2011
Modified Jun 27, 2011
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There are plenty of things you can complain about in Trader Joe's. If the line wrapping around the store isn't enough, then the fact that you're actually supporting PepsiCo and other evil monoliths when you shop there should do it. But overly friendly service? Shouldn't that be the silver lining in a town full of jerks? Not according to CityRoom's latest Complaint Box contestant, who said that her check-out experience at the Trader Joe's on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn went beyond the norm.
While the customer's experience began with the standard, "Did you find everything you needed?" it soon escalated to the dreaded "Did you have a nice weekend?" After the author said that she "just relaxed," the employee, who resembled "one of those women in the Pond's commercials splashing water onto her smooth face" with a piercing, asked "What do you do to relax." This would elicit a string of profanities at our local Pathmark, but the author kept her cool, saying that she stayed in to read. What followed is accurately described as "speed dating:"
“What are you reading?” she asked.
Now did she really expect me to give her a synopsis of the book when there were at least 30 people waiting in line behind me? Even if I could remember what I had been reading, did we really want to get into it? Here? In the middle of Trader Joe’s? All I wanted to do was pay for my food and go home so I could eat it all in one sitting.
“I’m reading ‘The Ask,’ ” I told her. “It’s dark but really good.”
“ ‘The Ass?’ ” she said with a strange look on her face.
“No. ‘The Ask,’ ” I told her.
“It’s about this guy who’s fired from a university where he was a fund-raiser.”
Sure the whole exchange may have taken around 30 seconds, and we know some people who LIVE to chat (and hit on) friendly Trader Joe's employees. After all, they're paid to be friendly and zealous about the products, but did this one overstep her boundaries?
Tagged
complaint box
friendliness
nytimes
trader joe's
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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