Category: Random

A Whole Foods Rant

Lauren4 Comments

I caused a fuss at Whole Foods last night.

After convincing Joey for the millionth night in a row to go out for dinner instead of making a nice homecooked meal with the fresh produce that’s slowly decaying in our fridge, we headed out to our nearby Whole Foods.  Which is actually so tiny that employees at the giant Boulder store refer to it as “Half Foods.”  I spotted a “Palak Paneer Naan Sandwich,” marked VEGETARIAN in the cold case and asked if they could warm it up for me.  All was fine and dandy until I realized whatever was in the the sandwich looked and tasted an awful lot like chicken.

I’m not vegetarian but I’d be willing to bet a lot of people in Whole Foods in Colorado are, so I took the sandwich back to the deli counter.  I alerted an employee behind the counter to what had happened and this is when things got weird.  Another employee asked what was wrong and the two of them sort of stared at each other, holding the VEGETARIAN sign and then asked “So do you want another one?”  Confused, I said yes and then awkwardly stood there while I waited for it to be heated up and for someone to act like giving someone who asked for a vegetarian dish a meat dish was a big deal.  No one did.

I genuinely dislike confronting management about anything, but after talking to Joey I decided to ask a nearby cashier if there was someone in customer service I could speak to.  I explained the situation to him and he grabbed his team leader, who came right over, tried to offer me a new sandwich then rushed away to “speak to his team.”  I told him I felt really bad and that I wasn’t a vegetarian, but my concern was that I could have been and no one had apologized or even thought it was a big deal, to which he very passionately explained that Whole Foods holds itself to a higher standard and people with dietary restrictions are large part of their market so he really needed to address his team

He also didn’t apologize.

The whole thing was very strange and also not the first time I have purchased something marked VEGETARIAN at Whole Foods and found myself eating meat.

End rant.

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Have you ever faced a situation like this?

What would you have done?

Do you have a hard time making a complaint in a restaurant, etc.?

The F Word

Lauren3 Comments

Confession: I am a frequent user of the F word.  And I’m not talking about the four letter F word, although I probably use that word too often too (not as much as my sister though!). The F word I’m talking about it only 3 letters long.

Fat.

And I use that word in relation to myself.  “I feel fat.”  Which is degrading and insulting and seriously untrue.  But it’s my favorite way to participate in some negative self talk.  And I, like most women my age, indulge in this activity all too frequently.  And I won’t lie, I have always struggled with it.  For a while, when I was fully immersed in the “healthy living world” and feeling really great about myself I thought I was over it, but once I got a 9-5 desk job and took on a more moderate lifestyle — with more butter and less long distance running and maybe just a little more guilt– I fell right back into the habit of talking negatively about myself.

It drives Joey insane.  But more than anyone else, it drives me insane.  So when March goal-making time rolled around, I decided to quit cold turkey.  I vowed to not use the word “fat” at all.  Not even once, and bam! it has been 31 days since I uttered that mean word.  And it has been surprisingly easy.  Sometimes keeping up a bad habit is even harder and more energy-sucking and tiring than just letting it go is.

Fat is not a feeling, and insulting myself is not productive.  Can I say that I have finally broken this horrible habit for good?  Absolutely not.  But I do know that it feels really good to have made it this far and I can do my very best to remember that before I let those kind of insults come out of my mouth again.  I’m working on it.

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Do you have a bad habit you desperately need to break?

 

P.S. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVING BOYFRIEND.  This post is all for you, Joey.  Just kidding 🙂