Comments on: Ode to a Newer Leaf http://christinawaters.com/2009/07/22/ode-to-a-newer-leaf/ Smart Mouth Tue, 22 May 2012 15:49:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Robin http://christinawaters.com/2009/07/22/ode-to-a-newer-leaf/#comment-13263 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:19:11 +0000 http://christinawaters.com/2009/07/22/ode-to-a-newer-leaf/#comment-13263 Indeed. Hasn't the employee "tone" at NL always been a little less than friendly and certainly not customer oriented? I once was about to spend something like $10/lb on some beef and asked the new person behind the meat counter (not one of the great butchers that worked there for small amounts of time) for suggestions on how to cook it. "I don't know anything about meat, I'm a vegetarian." Okay, but as a customer, and one who shopped there, especially for the good meat I couldn't get at Shoppers, at least three times a week for years and years, this was a big fat bummer and not all that unusual. I've always thought it had to do with employee treatment. Why work for "the man" if you don't get paid and/or treated well? The NL's in SLV seem to have a brighter set of employees (and I'm not referring to their intelligence) which I have attributed to a different set of owners and management. In Santa Cruz, it's almost a hostile interaction (with not all, of course, but those who are friendly and have a good work ethic don't seem to stick). I don't live in the Santa Cruz area any longer and since where I now call home is rural and close to marketless (though we do have one that is fantastic, just tiny, and we do have a farmers market that is fantastic, and very very tiny), I look forward to my trips to SC to stock up. My visits to the new New Leaf have been fun in the "oh my goodness there is so much cool stuff here" but the interactions with staff the same, as in, "why am I spending my money here?" I try staying local, though the pull towards Whole Foods is stronger because I think the folks there get paid well and are treated much better than at NL. They certainly don't scowl if you ask a question and the service is much faster at WF. Besides, since I'm spending a hefty amount of my wages at either store, I'd rather know that a meaningful portion of it is going to the workers by way of their pay and benefits. That's my two cents, anyway. You can tell, this has been bugging me for all the years I shopped at NL (many). Thanks for the forum. Yours from the Mono Lake area. Indeed. Hasn’t the employee “tone” at NL always been a little less than friendly and certainly not customer oriented? I once was about to spend something like $10/lb on some beef and asked the new person behind the meat counter (not one of the great butchers that worked there for small amounts of time) for suggestions on how to cook it. “I don’t know anything about meat, I’m a vegetarian.” Okay, but as a customer, and one who shopped there, especially for the good meat I couldn’t get at Shoppers, at least three times a week for years and years, this was a big fat bummer and not all that unusual.

I’ve always thought it had to do with employee treatment. Why work for “the man” if you don’t get paid and/or treated well? The NL’s in SLV seem to have a brighter set of employees (and I’m not referring to their intelligence) which I have attributed to a different set of owners and management. In Santa Cruz, it’s almost a hostile interaction (with not all, of course, but those who are friendly and have a good work ethic don’t seem to stick).

I don’t live in the Santa Cruz area any longer and since where I now call home is rural and close to marketless (though we do have one that is fantastic, just tiny, and we do have a farmers market that is fantastic, and very very tiny), I look forward to my trips to SC to stock up. My visits to the new New Leaf have been fun in the “oh my goodness there is so much cool stuff here” but the interactions with staff the same, as in, “why am I spending my money here?” I try staying local, though the pull towards Whole Foods is stronger because I think the folks there get paid well and are treated much better than at NL. They certainly don’t scowl if you ask a question and the service is much faster at WF. Besides, since I’m spending a hefty amount of my wages at either store, I’d rather know that a meaningful portion of it is going to the workers by way of their pay and benefits.

That’s my two cents, anyway. You can tell, this has been bugging me for all the years I shopped at NL (many). Thanks for the forum.

Yours from the Mono Lake area.

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