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| Fifth Column |
| Horror stories of customers with no manners from Berkeley's best market |
| 2008-09-23 |
| Click to read the whole story, I'm just excerpting the examples of behavior that I consider outrageous, but that Berkeley residents consider as normal. As most veteran customers know, it takes a pretty thick skin to successfully navigate the Berkeley Bowl, this strident city's most popular grocery store. Outside, petitioners seeking signatures for ballot measures have come to blows with opinionated residents. In the tiny parking lot, nicknamed the Berkeley Brawl, frustrated motorists have been known to ram one another's cars. At the checkout, people have thrown punches and unripened avocados at suspected line-cutters. When one shopper was told she couldn't return a bag of granola, she showily dumped its contents on the floor. Culyon Garrison, who works at the customer-service desk, recently had a loaf of bread thrown at him. The produce emporium -- one of the nation's most renowned retailers of exotic fruits and vegetables -- creates its own bad behavior. Kamikaze shoppers crash down crowded aisles without eye contact or apology for fender-benders. So many customers weren't waiting to pay before digging in that management imposed the ultimate deterrent: Those caught sampling without buying will be banned for life -- no reprieves, no excuses. (Not even "I forgot to take my medication.") Store manager Larry Evans says the policy is a fair response to doctors, lawyers and college professors who help themselves to bags of cookies, nuts and vitamins, stick their fingers in pies and guzzle from bottles of sake, assuming the rules don't apply to them. "There's a sense of entitlement to this town," Evans said. "People think, 'If I want to do it, I'll do it, just try and stop me.' " You mean that The Rules apply to everyone but ME, and I'M a beautiful, precious, unique snowflake? Seven years on the job, he said, has given him insight into the city's sometimes sharp social elbows. "Berkeley residents are angry -- they're mad at the president, the economy, all kinds of stuff. And this is the place where it seems to get released, the local supermarket." What a bunch of jerks. Each morning, the early birds wait in line for the Berkeley Bowl to open. Then the rush is on -- the elbowing and scrambling to reach the shelves of reduced-price produce that can be bought in bulk. The scene is so madcap, the store used to play the "Call to the Post" theme used in horse racing. Now management enforces a no-running policy -- because when Berkeley switches into hunter-gatherer mode, things can quickly get out of hand. What the hell is this, pizza day at an elementary school? It is barbarous behavior. The Internet site Yelp, where customers review restaurants and other stores, has hundreds of entries about the Bowl. One writer said weekends were the craziest, when "you don't wander through the aisles as much as hack through the underbrush of nose rings and cloth shopping bags with a machete, only to count the minutes you creep closer to death at the checkout line." This is just like shopping in a Chinese store, except less civilized. Elbowing people out of the way is NOT the way that normal people behave, it's behavior of savages. But other things get pointed out too. Your cart is at the wrong angle. You didn't replace that apple where you found it. Tell your child to stop playing with that plastic bag -- it's a choking hazard. One customer said he thinks he's come up with the perfect city bumper sticker: "Welcome to Berkeley: Now please stop doing that!" Surprise, surprise - liberals like to mind other people's business. Once, caterer Francisco Machado was at the checkout, talking on his cellphone, when he got a shoulder tap. "I made a remark to a friend, 'Dude, this place is a meat market!' And the guy behind me took offense. He started shouting that what I said was really sexist," Machado recalled. "He wouldn't let it go. I finally had to turn around and say, 'Mind your own business.' " Thought police. On a recent day, shopper Jean Sirius, a local editor, was standing in the produce section explaining the store culture. "There is a goddess Oblivion, and she has many devotees who shop here," she said. But before she could say more, a male shopper in a sweat suit removed his iPod earphones and barked: "Hey, you've been taking up space there for too long! Why don't you move aside so the rest of us can do some shopping?" Michael Pollan, author of the best-selling book "The Omnivore's Dilemma," is a Bowl regular who calls the store one of his top three places to buy food in the world. Still, he knows there's easier shopping. One time, Pollan was picking out a box of cereal for his daughter when a fellow shopper interrupted him. "He said, 'I'm watching Michael Pollan shop for groceries,' " Pollan recalled. "There was this note of disappointment that I was buying Fruity Pebbles. Berkeley is full of hall monitors. It's a small town, and people are looking into each other's baskets." This is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS TO ME IN CHINA. People peer curiously into my basket, to see what the foreigner is buying. These days, it is much less common, and the only people who peer into my basket are HICKS FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE. The ordinary city people couldn't care less - and the Berkeleyites are upholding the same standard of behavior as Chinese people with no manners. |
| Posted by:gromky |
| #33 Wide applciation of Sarin at the UCB campus would solve this problem. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-09-23 22:51 |
| #32 Thanks Alan C. I couldn't remember the name. It has been 16 years since I was there. I remember several women standing in their underwear trying on clothes. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-09-23 19:44 |
| #31 Related:Drudge is reporting that the moonbats that were tree sitting have been slammed with something like 800k in damage reparations and legal fees and they are now in Full Whine Mode. In addition to this I would have required a ten years term for tree molesting. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-09-23 19:04 |
| #30 "I forgot to take my medication." I think that explains most lefty behavior. |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-09-23 18:23 |
| #29 Those caught sampling without buying will be banned for life -- no reprieves, no excuses. NO HIPPIE SHIT FOR YOU! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-09-23 17:21 |
| #28 "Berkeley residents are angry -- they're mad at the president, the economy, all kinds of stuff." --yep, the economy is just so bad but somehow they find a way to tighten their belts and still afford to shop at the bowl....quivering lipped douchebags. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2008-09-23 16:58 |
| #27 Bright Pebbles, I like to simplify it down to "Liberals love humanity, they hate people." |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2008-09-23 16:32 |
| #26 I think leftism is a lack of empathy, covered up by a concious attempt at empathy. Hence the contradictions between automatic actions of leftists and their stated aims. Bright pebbles, interesting theory. hmmm. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-23 16:04 |
| #25 SteveS, that's more worthwhile than the U Mass chaplin that was offering 2 credits for students that worked on Obama's campaign in NH. The school has disavowed any knowledge of this fraud. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-09-23 15:48 |
| #24 Speaking as your Cultural Anthropology Advisor, I consider this an exciting opportunity to study free-range hippies in their natural environment. Fascinating, simply fascinating. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-09-23 15:19 |
| #23 Related:Drudge is reporting that the moonbats that were tree sitting have been slammed with something like 800k in damage reparations and legal fees and they are now in Full Whine Mode. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-09-23 14:56 |
| #22 I think leftism is a lack of empathy, covered up by a concious attempt at empathy. Hence the contradictions between automatic actions of leftists and their stated aims. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-09-23 14:54 |
| #21 Decon, that is Filene's Basement and the prescribed safety zone is 1 mile for adults and 1.5 miles for children. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-09-23 14:22 |
| #20 I've been there once. Revolting. The Whole Foods in Mill Valley can be like this on rare occasions, but is nowhere near as bad. You mostly see it there on the complaint board. Some pretty funny stuff actually. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2008-09-23 14:22 |
| #19 from what I've read (Here and elsewhere) they behave like undisciplined children, and a good smackdown simply doesn't register as anything except "Assault" no realization that they caused and provoked the situation. In short this is what happens when they are NOT diciplined as children, and allowed to grow up "Free". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-09-23 13:49 |
| #18 In school they learned "self esteem". That is all. Because with "self esteem" you can do anything, to anyone, at anytime. And that is why they have strict gun control. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-23 13:39 |
| #17 Quagmire! |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-09-23 13:30 |
| #16 There is a department store in Boston that has a bargain basement. It is at subway station and easy to get to. Don't go there on sale days. Especially the Bridal Sale Day. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-09-23 13:19 |
| #15 I blame BDS. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-09-23 12:39 |
| #14 Ya know, every time I go shopping in Walmart, the people are courteous even when the lines back up to the stupid apparel department. I thought *they* were supposed to be the barbarians.... |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2008-09-23 12:30 |
| #13 I wonder if there are actual organic changes in a Liberals brain physiology? A brain scanning experiment would be very interesting. They seem to act similarly different than conservatives, perhaps they have a malformed amigdala or something??? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-09-23 12:00 |
| #12 "You want to pull that nose of yours in before I break it off, pal." |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-09-23 11:01 |
| #11 everything they needed to learn in kindergarten they did not learn. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-23 10:54 |
| #10 I imagine the complaints box is filled with stuff about them carrying "Fruity Pebbles". It actually sounds like a good place to go if you want to annoy liberals for a couple of hours. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-09-23 10:42 |
| #9 JFM said "And most of all they are mad at having tiny d..ks. More seriously they are mad at being such losers." And that's just the women. The men are mad because they have any d..ks at all. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-09-23 10:22 |
| #8 "Berkeley residents are angry -- they're mad at the president, the economy, all kinds of stuff. And most of all they are mad at having tiny d..ks. More seriously they are mad at being such losers. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-09-23 09:44 |
| #7 Where is Inspector Harry Callahan when you need him? |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-09-23 09:38 |
| #6 "There's a sense of entitlement to this There, fully repaired. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-09-23 09:33 |
| #5 This is the type of behavior that leftist/marxist/socialist philosophy breeds. This is a foretaste of what will become of society if Zero is elected with Nancy & Harry running things. Not overnight, but over time, starting in the bluest areas you will see the "entitled" demanding that they are above any rules. The entitled will include the academic & media & political left as well as all their favored "minorities". A free for all will ensue. Just another example of the collision between collectivist ideals and the reality of human behavior. Stock up on ammo you may need it. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-09-23 09:31 |
| #4 Leftists = Adolescents |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2008-09-23 08:43 |
| #3 But.... but.... but... Its so trendy to shop there! /resident |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-09-23 08:39 |
| #2 That's nuttin. Try going to a sale at the Berkeley North Face store. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-09-23 08:25 |
| #1 If this was a bar, most code enforcement offices would have put the place on notice and be working to close it down as a blight to the neighborhood. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-23 08:24 |