Free food samples at groceries

the immigrants is a pretty good hypothesis, not intended to be implied negatively
their general appearance (clothes, hairstyles, mannerisms)
their language (definately eastern european, maybe hungarian?, the use of little or no english when communicating with the staff)

just an overall appraisal, maybe they're not immigrants

i've been wrong before

i saw the olive bar cleaned twice while i was there

and the fresh product was always added to the top of the container, there was no rotation of the olives - this is how our Team Leader trained us to care for the olives....


ad almost every sample of cheese there is out of date

We used to see him coming Via Seafood and hide all of our stuff lest he clean us out.........of course, the fried gizzards would remain. Shawn, I'll be in on Sunday after brunch for that pie!

as a former Whole foods employee

trust me don't eat the samples
it is disgusting to witness the poor manners exhibited at "free sample" areas
i've seen it all
douple dipping, food spraying from open mouths while asking what it is that their eating
putting crackers that have been bitten back into the samples

i've watched customers place their discarded olive pits back into the olive bar

oh, and most samples are "out of date" products

if you have to taste something, make them open a fresh container for you- at whole foods the employees have to do this for you

I thought the policy at Whole Foods was that they HAD to open something if a customer wanted a taste of it.

However, I've found that not to be the case when I've asked. Out of the zillion and one times I've spent money in there, I've asked to sample something twice, and was a bit miffed that both times we asked to try something, we were told flat out, "No, we don't do that."

One of my friends went through training at Whole Foods, and told me that one of the things they stressed was customer service, and to let the customer try anything, even if this meant opening a jar of honey, or a bag of cookies.

as a former Whole foods employee

trust me don't eat the samples
it is disgusting to witness the poor manners exhibited at "free sample" areas
i've seen it all
douple dipping, food spraying from open mouths while asking what it is that their eating
putting crackers that have been bitten back into the samples

i've watched customers place their discarded olive pits back into the olive bar

oh, and most samples are "out of date" products

if you have to taste something, make them open a fresh container for you- at whole foods the employees have to do this for you

I thought the policy at Whole Foods was that they HAD to open something if a customer wanted a taste of it.

However, I've found that not to be the case when I've asked. Out of the zillion and one times I've spent money in there, I've asked to sample something twice, and was a bit miffed that both times we asked to try something, we were told flat out, "No, we don't do that."

One of my friends went through training at Whole Foods, and told me that one of the things they stressed was customer service, and to let the customer try anything, even if this meant opening a jar of honey, or a bag of cookies.

Stated policy and reality are very different things. When a company cares only about bottom line sales, everything else is just fluff.........

i agree with Dave
stated policy vs. reality

each team member can also jsut give you the product you'd like to taste
rather than opening the container

- each team member can give away $50 worth of free product to customers - i was told $50 per team member per day, no questions asked

ask them for free stuff

if they tell you they won't open a product for you - complain and talk to a "team leader"

have fun at the whofo


see you on sunday mr clancy -

Back to non-disgusting sampling..... (note to self, don't get olives at Whole Foods)

Keg Liquors holds 2 tastings a month. We do a wine tasting with 6-7 different wines on the 2nd Thursday of each month, and we do a beer tasting with typically 6-7 different beers on the last Thursday of each month. I usually pair different cheeses with the wines, but it is usually bought the same day. I try to keep people from congregating around the sample table just so crumbs don't fly around. I've actually been known to clear off the snacks if I see soemthing like that happen. I guess I have a low tolerance for anything like that.