“flunking out” at the co-op

In an article that shows a disappointing lack of perspective and research, Alana Joblin Ain whines in today’s New York Times that at the Park Slope Food Co-op, of which I am a member, she isn’t given the respect that she’s due:

As I was checking out, I reached for my entrance receipt, which I had received at the front because I did not have my long-unused membership card. But I couldn’t find the receipt in my bag. I offered to give the checkout worker my member ID number to enter into the computer.

“No, I need the actual slip of paper,” he said.

But I would not have been allowed in the store without the entrance receipt, I reminded him.

“I can’t check you out,” he shrugged unhelpfully. “You can go back to the entrance worker and get a new receipt.”

I suppose there were reasons for the policy. But as I walked back to the entrance worker, I wondered if being treated like a delinquent was becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Yeah, there are reasons for the policy. How insipid that Ain wrote such a thing in the New York Times without bothering to find out what they are. Especially after having obviously interviewed the co-op’s general manager, Joe Holtz, for other parts of her article. Read the rest of this entry »