Tag: Food

What’s behind my Publix self-checkout scrutiny?


An odd thing happened at Publix the other day. I was checking out at the self-check-out, which I always do, and the lady who runs the front area at the check-out, came up to me and asked me if I scanned something, assuming I didn’t – they were pomegranate seeds/arils.

She knows me, she sees me there all the time. She said hello to me when I first walked into the store. So I found it very odd, and insulting.

At first I couldn’t hear her and I thought she was asking about the arils. Sometimes when you go through the regular checkout lines, they ask about the food you are buying if it’s something they aren’t familiar with. It’s a bit strange, but they do that. “Is it good?” “What is that?” Things like that; so I thought she was asking about that.

I told her I did scan the item and she should check it on the screen, which she did. She actually looked at the list of food and saw it was scanned.

I found the whole incident strange. Maybe they are trying to stop pilferage, which I can see happening at self-checkouts and it seemed like she randomly chose an item to ask about – or is there a pilferage problem with pomegranate arils, which are overpriced- but so is everything in Publix.

Maybe she was being watched by management and felt the need to look useful, who knows. But it was a rude thing to do to a regular customer – someone she knows.

If they are worried about pilferage, maybe they should follow the old men who take food from the produce department and eat it in the store – they grab cherries, grapes, etc. constantly and eat it right there without paying.

They should really watch the schmucks that Publix allows to walk around the store with firearms – yes, open carry idiots. Those are the ones who need to be watched (and banned from the public and Publix).

I like self-checkouts and use them in all stores that have them – Target, Walgreen, CVS, Home Depot, Winn-Dixie, etc. I find it fast and I don’t have to have a conversation with anyone. It’s just in and out. And I’ve never had an issue with being questioned before.

I am tempted to ask her why she questioned me the next time I am there, but I’ll just let it go. Guess the $60 billion Publix made last year wasn’t enough, they want to be sure they get every penny that’s coming to them.

Till next time . . .


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Fast Food Drive-Thru Experiences


Some guy posted this picture online and said he started going to Chipotle instead of Wendy’s because Wendy’s did away with their taco chips and made them into little “pebbles” and he likes to scoop up the taco salad with the chips. I feel the same way. The ruined the whole taco salad by doing this. Trying to save money I guess but losing customers in the process.

Speaking of Wendy’s, I think the people who work the drive-thru windows at Wendy’s and Burger King think I am either cheap or poor.

I don’t really pay attention to the cost of things when it comes to lunch, especially at a drive thru. But for some reason, it always appears that way at these two places.

At Wendy’s I always get the taco salad, but may not anymore now that the chips are pebbles, but anyway, I know now with tax is $9.08, but in the past, I didn’t pay attention, I just paid.

One of the ladies at the drive-thru is the manager and one day she gave me a coupon for $2.00 off a salad. I didn’t go back for a while, but the coupon sat on my console in the car. When I finally went back, I remembered it and I gave it to another lady at the window.

My eyes are bad, I need new contact lenses and there no way I could read the expiration date, so I asked her if it was still valid. She said it wasn’t, and I said, ok, fine.

But the manager said to give me the discount, so they did.

She must have assumed I gave her the coupon knowing it was expired, but that wasn’t the case.

I only say that because the next time I went, when I got to the window, I asked them how much it was. I really didn’t know, I didn’t remember, and I don’t keep track.

The manager was at the window, and she said, “Come on, you know how much it is. You just want a discount!”

Ha, I was embarrassed, because that was not the case. I honestly didn’t remember what it cost, and I didn’t hear them when they told me through the speaker. I didn’t even know you could ask for a discount, which she didn’t give me anyway.

I’ve been back many times since then, so that didn’t stop me, but I don’t like the new way they do the taco salads now and they sort of did away with the taco chips, which I liked to use as a spoon to scoop up the salad with the chili, so I may not go back.

One thing I do there, and I seem to do it at Burger King, too, is that I’m counting out bills and coins as if they are my last bit of money. But I do it to get rid of the overflowing coins in my ashtray in the car and also to get rid of the singles I seem to accumulate.

Now at Burger King. For some reason, every time I go, which is not often, I count out the change – bills and coins – to the exact amount, same as at Wendy’s, and I’m usually struggling with it as I get to the window to pay.

And here it is always the same lady who I deal with, and she remembers me, because if I don’t go for a while, she comments on it and says, “You haven’t been her for a while.”

I also only order one thing – some sort of burger or a chicken sandwich. I stopped getting fries and a drink, so it looks like I can only afford the one sandwich, although that one sandwich costs more than their $5.00 meal deal, so there is that.

But when I get the meal, I end up eating the fries mindlessly as I’m driving and I feel I don’t need to eat fries especially since I’m not really enjoying them and just gobbling them down, and I don’t drink soda and don’t like any of their other drinks, so I decided to just get the one burger or chicken sandwich.

I know none of this matters, but I find it funny and sort of embarrassing at the same time.

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