Tuesday, November 16, 2010

indifference


The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.

Elie Wiesel

Let me tell you something I am not indifferent about: Choice.

I believe in choice, just like the Divine believes in Free Will. I get to choose. YES!

Have you been to the grocery store lately? How many toothpastes or types of corn chips do I need to choose from? Really.

That's one of the things that makes Trader Joe's successful, you know. Fewer types of peanut butter...choose one...keep shopping. Seriously. They pre-shop. This is not a Trader Joe's commercial. I rarely shop there.

I'll let all you grocers in on a tidbit--I go for quality...not just price. So today, when I was looking for organic, non-GMO corn chips...you didn't have what I wanted. Fifty kinds of corn chips and you didn't have one I really wanted.

Seriously.

1 comment:

graceonline said...

Yup, I know that drill all too well. Frustrating as all get out. I haven't tried it with supermarkets in San Francisco, not getting to them much, but in another state, all I had to do was tell the manager of the store I wanted a product and, like magic, it appeared on the shelves next time I shopped there. Of course, I had to keep buying the product to assure it kept coming back.

I'll tell you a little story. At one time I was a temporary administrative assistant to the vice president in charge of the MIS department of a national grocery store chain. They didn't carry anything organic in my town at that time, so I did most of my shopping at the local Co-Op.

One day, I had a Gala apple sitting on my desk, my mid-morning break treat. One of the other vice presidents, who oversaw procurement, passed by my desk and spied the apple. "What is that?"

"Uh, what is what, Sir?"

"What is this?" Pointing to the apple.

"Uh, it's an apple."

"Yes, I can see that. What kind of apple?"

Now you have to understand that this grocery chain believed at the time in promoting from within. Almost all of the managers (all male that I saw in my area) started out as box boys and worked their way up. This gentleman was no exception. He knew everything anyone could know about the products they carried in their stores. He had never seen a Gala apple.

"It's an organic Gala apple, from New Zealand."

I gave him the apple so he could taste it. Next time I shopped his supermarket, there in the produce section was a nicely placed bin of Gala apples, not organic, but Galas. Far as I know, they're carrying them today.