Whole Foods

Rather than post a link to an article, thought I would make some comments about Whole Foods. For those of you who do not have a Whole Foods in your town or neighborhood, I'm not sure if you are lucky or unlucky. What this grocery store is, is a gourmet/organic/vegetarism heaven. The food here is wonderful - the seafood case is the freshest outside of Pike Place Market, the meat case if beautifully displayed, the deli/hot food area is to die for and the bakery....just looking at it will pack on pounds. So you can imagine that this place is very popular. What I find interesting is that this company somehow has a knack for finding locations that have crappy parking with spots the size for Mini-Coopers. The one I go to has both an underground garage and an outdoor lot across the street. Both suck. But what amazes me about the underground lot is that is has this pick-up area for your groceries! Yes, even though you have one bag with 5 items, if you chose to, you can put your bag on a conveyeor belt that delivers it to the garage. Once you squeeze back into your Mini-Cooper or Hybrid, you drive up to this area with a separate lane from the rest of garage traffic, and an attendant will put your groceries in your trunk. Do you tip the guy?? That is what I was wondering today when I walked by two cars in the queue - both had able bodied (I didn't see any handicapped stickers) 40-something women at the wheel. One of them had the attendant load two not-so-full bags of groceries into her trunk. Maybe she had a broken leg I couldn't see or something, but I don't get it. You can't carry two bags of groceries yourself??! How LAZY! I can see how this service would be great if you are like 90 yrs old, or maybe you've got a couple kids in the stroller. But if you are like me, 30 and in decent shape, don't be a piece of crap and be this lazy....

Now, onto the actual shopping experience at Whole Foods. Every time I go there it is like the entire population of Seattle is there. And there is no "flow" to this store at all. People are every which way. But the thing I find most interesting is that this store makes people all of a sudden have no concept of the space around them. Maybe it is b/c they are so dazzled by the produce displays, or maybe they are high from the bakery fumes... I'm not sure what it is. All I know is I'm trying to get in there and get out and it's like every step I take someone setps in front of me, hesitates, blocks the aisle with their huge cart, is starting off in space, etc... I don't get it.
All I know, is that this place is very frustrating....but darnit, they have the best food in town!