| Written by Diana, on 15-06-2007 02:06 |
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From my post here:
http://www.trackingtraderjoes.com/2005/11/an_open_letter_.html#comment-72795658 -- "I'm quite surprised at the very unhappy TJ's customers I read above. It must be store to store, obviously you can't hire the perfect staff every time and some stores all together miss the mark. You just can't be perfect 100% of the time. I agree with "charlles" above that MOST stores are cramped beyond capacity. I don't know who came up with the compact-isle but they should be fired very quickly. The smaller TJ's that have been around for decades (?) really aren't made for carts and I avoid those stores completely. Two people, each carrying a basket may have to squeeze by each other.
"I have to say though, TJ's is one of the best places in my opinion when it comes to products and service (provided the employee is over the age of 40 and has worked there a while). Grocery shopping was always done at Ralphs two miles from my house where 16 year olds are running the cash register and couldn't care less if you found what you were looking for. I'm seriously not racist but my Ralphs is always filled with Asians who don't understand the concept of PERSONAL SPACE, stand WAY TOO CLOSE to you in line, keep ramming their cart into your back or allow their children to run wild through the store. Large supermarkets are FILLED with people who have no respect for others and cause you to leave the store in sour mood (thanks a lot). Unfortunately, my Ralphs also just became a MEGA Ralphs so they’ve stopped selling my favorite FLAVORS in exchange for more BRANDS.
"TJ's is different. People who shop there are going for their organic foods, the friendly people who work there, or because it's just easier than going to a supermarket. I'm not asked if [unrecyclable] plastic bags are okay, I'm just given paper (thank you). The specialty/rare organic and/or vegetarian foods that I want just aren't sold anywhere else. The prices are unbeatable. (Watermelon is $7 at Ralphs but only $2.70-$3 at TJ's for the same amount and my current fav protein bars are $1.69 at TJ's and a whopping $2.39 at Ralphs...AND TJ's NEVER RUNS OUT!! It's like a bottomless bowl of protein bars!! I’m always shocked at how little I spend compared to the amount of food I’ve purchased.) Also, they take your basket so you don't have to stand there straining to carry it and you don't have to empty your cart or basket when it's your turn!
"I personally love Trader Joe's brand foods, especially their "this [fruit] walks into a bar" cereal bars and their Penne Arrabbiata. They always have my SmartWater in stock and they've got all sorts of stuff you never even knew you couldn’t live without (like organic Glee Gum and organic-soy-[enter food here]). Whole Foods can't even match my Trader Joe's shopping list and Ralphs...there's just no competition.
"Produce leaves something to be desired but when it comes to organic produce, nothing beats the local farmer's market. Even organic produce in Ralphs and Whole Foods is less than desirable just due to the fact that it’s organic.
"My point is, you have to be a certain type of [possibly "GREEN"] shopper to find Trader's appealing. Yes, they have weird foods and their isles might be too small but there's no one out there better than TJ's. I say try another TJ's if you're unhappy. I live in So. Cal. and the La Crescenta (91214) TJ's is TINY and I avoid it at all costs. The La Canada TJ's (91101?) is brand new but the parking is a nightmare and the isles are REALLY WEIRD and cramped. I've never been to the South Pas. Trader's but the Sierra Madre/Hastings Ranch Trader's (91107?) has an AWSOME parking lot that's NEVER full and the isles are the perfect size.
"My only question is: WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO START SELLING GLACEAU VITAMINENERGY DRINKS??? I found one at a local Shell Gas Station two weeks ago and this week they don't have them anymore and neither does any other store [of ANY KIND] in the area. I also would like the B-RELAXED Glaceau VitaminWater to be sold. I found that ONCE at the CVS/Pharmacy in Montrose/Verdugo and haven't seen it anywhere since. I contacted Glaceau but apparently they don’t know who’s going to be selling them regularly yet.
"P.S. I don’t drink but apparently their wine and Soy Chocolate Chip cookies are pretty tasty as well."
I have this issue now that I have a heck of a time getting myself to pull out the Fluidity Bar [scheduled or not] and all I want to do, at ... 1:00am is EAT. It's not a healthy "no longer eating-disordered" desire to eat. It's the old "binge" comfort-eating that gets me into so much trouble. I makes me REALLY anxious to not have food in the house, or even just soda, but last night I was out of soda and there wasn't a think to eat but oatmeal...HOT oatmeal. This afternoon there was a wasp or hornet between my window and screen so now I can't open my window until that screen comes off and I'm sure it's gone so I'm ROASTING in my room. The fan's on but with a 110 degree lizard tank, a fan only keeps me from dying of heat in here. It's hardly a comfortable sleeping temperature and DEFINITELY not a comfortable exercising temperature. It's just after 1am and I want to go out and make pasta...600 calories of pasta. HOT pasta. There's no soda so there really isn't anything [relatively harmelss] that will satisfly this food craving except for past or rice, REALLY TASTY pasta or rice. I've been all over the internet and back over the past two days. Not because I wanted to but because my mind just wouldn't focus on the task I started out to accomplish. I purchased Susan G Komen Foundation M&M's from mymms.com which donates a percentage of the purchase. I moved on to Komen.org where I purchased a pink ribbon beanie babie bear, a 25th Anniversary necklace, and a pink & white striped pen. I then moved onto bmwusa.com where I read about The Ultimate Drive where they donate $1/mile driven to the Susan G. Komen Foundation each year, and I read about their upcoming Hydrogen engines and priced the 760Li (V12, 6.0L, 444HP engine w/lots of cool features) which STANDARD came to $122K and with my added packages came to $136K, which on a 5-year lease came to roughly $2200-$2300 per month which is more than I even make! Cool car though. I ended up at various other sites and then back to the M&M Dark Chocolate game where you have to find 50 scary movies depicted in a painting which included three of the M&M's characters. By now it's 6:30am, there's NO WAY I'm exercising, and I have to get up in an hour. I did finally get the info I had started out for but it took a good 12 hours to get it. [And I still want pasta even though it's 1:25am and I'm very tired and not feeling AT ALL THIN.] My parents are spending the weekend in Santa Barbara, I assume preparing to sell the condo now that my dad is retired so I hope to get some spontaneous exercise in this weekend. I have to wrap his Father's Day present so my mother can take it up with her but it's sitting next to me here, cat-haired and COMPLETELY UN-WRAPPED! I've been off the Provigil since my bout with chipmunk-itis (swollen salivary gland) and I think it's effecting me. My insurance would not approve my prescription but hopefully the drug rep, who's in my doctor's office tomorrow, can convince them otherwise. I think I really need it. It seemed subtle when I was on it but now that I'm off it and the stress of the wedding is gone, I can see I'm back in that depression fog (which is very different from the anxiety-fog I'm in so often). When I'm depressed I don't sleep but I usually stay in bed (and I've been spending a lot of un-motivated time in bed the past few months. I don't know what happened but the Lexapro isn't cutting it anymore. It keeps me from a suicidal state but I'm only barely functioning. Good thing I work for my mother because Wednesday I didn't get into work until 12:30pm so I just stayed until 6:30pm (we close at 5pm). Getting up and really doing ANYTHING takes all my energy and will. The wedding made me smile but that was for a couple hours and now I'm back to not having anything to be even remotely pleased with. There is NO JOY in anything. I also have all these journal entries I need to add to the website, since 5/28, but that would take a huge amount of energy. Hopefully with my parents absence will come some motivation to move into other parts of the house, play some loud music (Avril Lavigne!), and get a few things accomplished. I wish I could do something like organize a team for the Komen Foundation or ANY group like that, give myself something to do that actually felt useful. I obviously don't have that ambition (or courage) but I wish I could. It would give me something else to put my energy into. Okay...I STILL want pasta.
Last update: 15-06-2007 02:06
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