Solve Your Problems: The Solution is Often Within Reach
A few weeks ago, I was in a large natural foods grocery store stopping in to get a salad from their salad bar. I like using salad bars, since I am on a pretty restricted diet due to an autoimmune issue I’m trying to clear up.
After I made my salad, I noticed that the olive oil bottle was empty. So I found a person behind the counter in the prepared foods area and asked if they could re-filll the bottle.
I was told, “No, we’re out”.
“But this is a grocery store,” I said, “and I know there are around 60 or 70 bottles of olive oil right over there in that aisle,” I pointed, trying not to get pissed off.
She looked at me blankly, and shrugged.
I don’t eat prepared salad dressings because they are filled with seed oils.
So, as I was walking over to the check out counter to pay for my dry salad, she passed me on the way to the cash register with a bottle of olive oil in her hands.
She didn’t say a word. Oh, she made eye contact with me, but kept on trucking.
Today, I was in a large natural foods grocery store in Greensboro, NC, looking forward to their salad bar for a late lunch.
I looked over their offerings, and noticed there was no protein on the salad bar other than some dried out looking egg halves and some bacon bits.
“Where’s the meat?” I wondered.
I went over to the prepared foods counter and asked a young woman behind the counter why there wasn’t any protein other than old eggs and bacon bits on their enormous salad bar.
She said, “Let me go see what you’re talking about.”
She went over, stated that there was no meat, and that she guessed they were out.
“But…this is a grocery store. You have meat all over the place!” I replied, feeling my heart race and thinking that this apathetic attitude in solving problems quickly is no longer an anomaly.
She shrugged and walked away.
I asked to talk to the prepared foods manager. He came over and I asked him why there wasn’t any meat on the salad bar, and he told me that they were having issues with a supplier.
“But, I see meat all over the place. Until the issue is figured out, can’t you guys step up and put some non-salad bar meat on the bar?”
He looked at me blankly, smiled, and that was that.
I understand that they might lose some profit, maybe…but what they lost is a satisfied customer.
All I eat when I go out is salad bars.
I found another salad bar this afternoon at a local co-op called Deep Roots in Greensboro.
Their salad bar is small, but well stocked.
There was a handmade sign stating that their vegan curry salad was homemade just today.
And they had shredded chicken on the bar, along with other tasty morsels.
I could tell the people that work there care about their job, their performance and solving problems so that the customer isn’t going to be impacted by whatever is going on in the back.
If I’m ever in Greensboro again, Deep Roots is where I will spend my money.
When I’m home, I choose my local co-op instead of bigger name grocery stores when I need a salad bar fix. Their bar is always stocked, and there’s meat readily available, along with olive oil.
The bigger picture other than I was pissed is this:
Often, the solution to a problem is staring you in the face. I’ve found that the solution to most problems are within reach–sometimes just an aisle or two over.
