[nabs-l] Problems with grocery shopping

Tue Feb 10 00:05:05 UTC 2015

Hi,

I can certainly sympathize with all of those frustrations.
Unfortunately, money does result in better customer service whether it
is with clothes shopping at Nordstrom versus Ross or a local grocery
store versus a chain.

Admittedly, I have resorted to mostly online shopping and buying
perishable foods at a nicer grocery store. But my partner and I
continuously battle over who is going to do the shopping, and half the
time, it resorts in us going out because neither of us feels like
going to the store after work.

Amazon has a Pantry option. It is only useful if you need a lot of
stuff, but it is a lot more widely available than Fresh and contains a
ton of nonperishable items at very low prices.

You could try calling ahead to the store although I have never done this.

I agree that you should ask when a good shopping assistant works.
However, you should also ask the bad shopping assistants for their
name and when they work. If you have an opportunity to come at a
different time, do so. If not, you could potentially tell the customer
service agent that it did not work out well with that employee
although I would use that as a last resort.

I have learned the shape, size, and approximate location of most foods
that I buy. If a shopping assistant is not finding what I want, I find
something of similar shape and size and show it to them. I also
sometimes point out the area of shelf that it is typically on. I am
very persistent as often shopping assistants will say they don't have
something when they don't find it right away. I will say something
like, "I bought this here before," or "This is a really common item.
I'm sure you have it." 99% of the time, they do have it. I also insist
that I touch everything before it goes into the cart. I have pointed
out a lot of incorrectly-sized containers that have been picked out
and occasionally the wrong product.

Sometimes, bringing the list in print helps, but I always have the
list in braille.

If you are very concerned about the service at a particular store, you
might try calling the manager. Explain that you want to do business at
that particular store and ask if they have recommendations of an
employee who would be a good communicator and who knows the store.

Also, if the store has accessible sales ads online, I have found that
shopping according to those not only saves me money, but these items
are often on display and easier to find. If the sales ads are not
accessible, you might call the manager. One store manager sent us
spreadsheets of the sales ads for the particular store. She was not
persistent, and we did not ask again since we don't shop there often,
but if you get the ads once, you will always have an email address to
contact should the ads discontinue. If the ads are not accessible,
this would be a good use of a reader. They could either clip coupons
or ads. You could label them in braille. Often, coupons and ads have
pictures of the food which could help the shopping assistant. If it is
just a sales ad, save the picture if you plan to buy the product again
regardless of whether it is on sale.

I am sorry to hear about your difficulties. I think that poor customer
service is a chronic problem. I don't want to think about the money I
have spent just because I am tired and don't feel like dealing with an
incompetent person, or a person at all in the case of online shopping.
One way I justify this is by choosing to buy healthier foods and local
foods. I receive excellent customer service at a local grocery store
that prepares all of their meat in house and sources it from
Washington farms. Since I shop according to the sales ads, I feel like
I spend about the same amount of money that I would buying mass
sourced meat at the cheaper grocery store. Similar with produce, in
season fruit is often what is on sale and is often what will taste
better anyway. But I have definitely been in college and buying
freshly ground beef was definitely not an option. The good thing about
being in college though is that it is often easier to find someone who
is willing to do a menial task for not too much money. So I definitely
recommend using a reader if you have one or in trading favors.

Cindy

On 2/9/15, Mikayla Gephart via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi,
> I am in high school, so do not go through this. I have a comment about
> asking the manager to educate their employees on disabilities. Instead,
> maybe you or someone from your NFB chapter could come in and talk to the
> employees and maybe even teach the manager. My consern is that thc manager
> might not know how to guide a blind person, and might reteach negative
> attitudes.
> Best,
> Mikayla
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Feb 9, 2015, at 4:04 PM, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi, NABSters,
>>
>> Lately I've been having some problems when I've been grocery shopping,
>> and I'm wondering if any of you who independently shop for your food
>> have had similar situations and/or know how to work around them.
>>
>> I'm a very detailed shopper.  I make my lists in advance, plan out a
>> rough budget, and also organize all the other logistics like
>> para-transit in advance.  All last semester I had great success going
>> through my local Kroger and found the staff there to be very helpful
>> and friendly.  However, over Christmas break I found out that we had a
>> Meijer nearby, and I decided to start going there instead for better
>> produce and lower prices on some things I was finding pretty expensive
>> at Kroger.
>>
>> I've been to the Meijer twice now (I go shopping every other weekend)
>> and ping on Saturdays at the times of day that I know the store won't
>> be as busy, like before 9:00 in the morning or after 7:00 PM.  The
>> first time the shopping assistant I had seemed to have very little
>> clue as to how to actually help me.  He did not listen to what I
>> wanted, sometimes just took off and left me to look for things I said
>> I had on my list, and often had to stop other employees and other
>> shoppers to ask questions.  He was very confusing to follow, as he
>> would just read off everything instead of specifically look for what I
>> said I needed.  For example, we came up to the wall of bagged
>> vegitables and the dialog went something like this:
>> "Okay, now I need chopped salads.  The kind I usually get are by Dole."
>> "Okay... chopped salad.  I see carrots, romaine, Spinach..." (he's at
>> least a good 4 feet away from me and moving away down the wall.  I
>> have enough vision to see more orange from top to bottom, so I know
>> he's going towards the bagged carrot sticks and away from the green,
>> leafy things.
>> "I think it's somewhere around here."
>> "Okay" (he comes toward me."  "Dole Romaine, Dole Spinach lettuce."
>> "I don't see it."
>> Fellow shopper. "The chopped salad is right there.  (Just to his right).
>>
>> This happened at the cheese section as well.  He kept talking about 2
>> for 5 deals and such randomly, but since he wasn't just looking at the
>> types of cheese I needed it was hard to tell what he was talking about
>> and gauge what the best value would be.    At one point he assumed
>> that I didn't know how to open my box of Oreos I asked for, so when he
>> said to give him my hand and I offered it palm up, he flipped it over
>> and gave me unsolicited instruction in the art of opening the
>> packaging.
>>
>> I wasn't rude to this guy, and I assumed that he was a bit off
>> probably due to an intellectual disability.  I chalked it up to that,
>> and thought that at worst I might want to talk to the manager about
>> educating employees on how to properly and politely work with shoppers
>> with disabilities (he was also super grabby and wanted me to hold onto
>> him even though I repeatedly assured him I could follow behind).
>>
>> I went back to the same Meijer on Saturday and got a different
>> assistant.  This lady definitely had some disability.  I think it is
>> probably Down Syndrome because she had some of the facial features,
>> but I can't be sure.  She presented a different host of challenges;
>> she definitely knew her way around the store and politely offered her
>> arm but did not continue insistently once I declined, and she
>> definitely knew her brands.  She also had a much better handle on
>> helping me shop efficiently because she knew, "Dairy is a bit off, do
>> you have anything like bread on your list we could get on our way?,"
>> that the other guy did not.  Instead of taking double the usual time,
>> she got me done in half my usual time.  The only problems with her
>> were that sometimes she'd get distracted by items I didn't need and I
>> would have to redirect her in order to get the information I really
>> needed.  When I asked the question out right, not only based on price
>> but also size of package which value was better, she had trouble
>> answering that question.  Then in checkout she provided unsolicited
>> information that wasn't necessarily socially acceptable.  A lady with
>> a wheelchair cart was paying for her food in front of us, and the
>> shopping assistant turned and said, not all too quietly, "She's paying
>> with WIC, and she's got about the whole store on the conveyor belt."
>> I felt myself go red because I didn't know what that other woman's
>> reaction would be.  Of course I didn't ask her for this information,
>> but I really felt bad for the other lady who was probably buying in
>> bulk because it was harder for her to get out to shop for a family.  I
>> didn't really know how to respond to the shopping assistant, and when
>> I was silent for a few seconds she just repeated herself as if I
>> didn't hear her.  Then I asked her to take me to a specific bench I
>> knew was there while I waited for my ride to come back for pickup, and
>> she stuck me in another location which I was less familiar with to
>> wait.
>>
>> I am all for placing people with any disability in a job, and I
>> understand that positions like greeters (like the lady I worked with
>> was before she started helping me) are the positions most likely to be
>> pulled by customer service to assist shoppers, but how do you work out
>> that situation.  The first guy was particularly frustrating because he
>> took so long to find simple things and popular brands like Tyson,
>> Sargento, and Dole, but on the flip side you had the other lady who
>> wasn't a good judge of value and sometimes would talk my ear off as we
>> walked and realize some ways off that we missed what we were going
>> for.  I applaud Meijer for employing people who can really use the
>> work, but I think they need to consider the needs of customers who ask
>> for shopping assistance when pairing them up with employees.  If
>> people like the first guy are unable to read the expiration dates on
>> meats, that's a problem for me.  If I'm trying to save money and I
>> can't get a good judge of value, that's also a problem for me.
>>
>> Being a major in a field where I'll eventually have clients with all
>> sorts of disabilities, I have learned to be very accepting and patient
>> in these situations, but when I only have so long to shop before
>> para-transit comes back or am trying to stick to a budget the matter
>> can be a bit complicated.  When I went shopping with the Oreo guy I
>> had to skip a few items on my list in order to check out and be ready
>> on time, and I'll confess my patience was wearing a little thin after
>> an hour and a half because he was constantly trying to be custodial.
>> I just was a little worried about keeping my budget and a little
>> socially uncomfortable with the second employee, although I do know
>> she tried to be helpful and was for most of the trip.
>>
>> I have never had these issues at the other store, so I'm a little
>> unsure of how to best proceed should I have this happen again,
>> especially with the first guy.  Thoughts?
>>
>> It's a tricky situation because
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
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-- 
Cindy Bennett
1st Year Ph.D. Student, University of Washington
Human Centered Design and Engineering

Treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington
an Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind

clb5590 at gmail.com