So last night I stop at the Giant in New Cumberland on the way home from work. I have maybe a dozen items in my cart. It’s about 6 p.m. and half the checkout lines are closed. I pick the one where the store manager is working the cash register.
I like to watch managers do real work occasionally.
The customer in front of me gets through the lane, and the manager starts on my stuff. Then a big, dirty guy ambles up to the bagging end of the lane, eating something from a broken plastic spoon. He licks off the spoon and puts it somewhere. Then he wipes his hand on his dark, dreggy Giant golf shirt.
I don’t know why. His hand was probably cleaner before he wiped it on the shirt.
This is the guy who is going to put my food into a bag.
Eventually. First he has to stand there and watch the food a while as it slides toward him. I’m guessing that he’s waiting for a big enough pile to accumulate at the end of the conveyor belt.
I look at the manager, who seems aware of the situation and would like to avoid unpleasantness.
Me too. I walk down to the plastic bags in front of Dirty Giant Guy and pull one, and start packing my groceries. No big deal, I have to bag my own stuff roughly every other time I go to this store.
(That’s not so at the Fancy Giant in Camp Hill, which has enough employees to serve the more affluent shoppers who go there. Rich people rate good service.)
I fill two bags before Dirty Giant Guy notices and devastates me with the snarl of passive-aggressive louts everywhere: “Whatever.” He walks away.
The manager hands me my receipt and honestly, I’m pretty sure he said, “Thank you for shopping at Giant.”
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Wegman’s will kick ass.
Consumed by Food 
I second that! It has been on my calendar since March. I’ll be at the opening.
We switched from the Cumberland Parkway store to New Cumberland last fall when we moved. It was a definite step down. The selection in weaker, and the staff is far less friendly and helpful, especially the deli. When I shop at the Camp Hill store and do shop ahead, my order’s always ready quickly. At New Cumberland, I always wait.
Ya know…that’s pretty much why I don’t shop there unless I absolutely HAVE to, which is too bad cause I could ride my bike there and save some gas for the rest of the world. For example, they really do have less selection than their other stores, it’s like stepping back in time. The staff, with several exceptions, runs the gamut from being more engaged in each other’s drama while customers wait silently for help, to being clueless and rude. I am a chemo patient, and have to beware of germs. On one recent trip, an older gentleman was my cashier, and just before he began to pick up my items and begin scanning them, he fished a wad of used kleenex from his pocket, and after giving all of his mucous membranes a hearty and thorough swab, stuffed the now even more saturated and germ laden wad back into his pocket. At this point, I gently pointed to the container of antibacterial handwipes prominently displayed right in front of him and humbly explained my situation and asked him if he would please mind wiping his hands before touching my groceries. His response…”I touched my face with my kleenex, not my hands!” Which makes it alllll ok I guess. These folks just don’t get it. It is a whole other mind set. I never go there if I can possibly avoid it, and instead shop at the Camp Hill Giant , which is closer to where I work, or at Wegmans.