Organic Dementia #4: Insufficient Grounds

I doubt seriously I’ll ever fully post about the movies again but that doesn’t mean I won’t mention them from time to time. That said, I took another look at A Prairie Home Companion this afternoon and it’s such a wonderful little film that I couldn’t help mentioning it. Check it out if you haven’t all ready.

I went shopping yesterday in search of safe cleaning products and was pleasantly surprised to find that this is not the expensive proposition I thought it might be. I’ll write more about it once I’ve had a chance to use everything. I was also out of coffee. I got so caught up looking at labels for non-toxic dishwashing detergent (Go ahead and say it, my life’s really sad. I’m okay with it!) that I forgot all about the damn coffee and didn’t remember it until just before I went to bed. I had every intention of buying organic coffee this time around but that’s one thing you can’t get at Kroger’s and since it was midnight, I didn’t have much choice. I grudgingly put my shoes back on and hopped in the car to pick up my usual bag of Starbuck’s French Roast.

I’m as finicky about my coffee as I am about cheese. Organic coffee is not any more expensive then what I usually buy so that excuse is out. Starbuck’s does have organic blends but they’re not available at the average grocery store so I’m gonna have to switch brands. This is not a bad thing because a part of me feels dirty every time I pick up a bag of the stuff.

Another aspect of this little experiment is trying to shop with smaller, people oriented and (when possible) local companies. It’s a community thing. Say what you will about the great, capitalist American empire, there are sides to it that just suck and this focus on running small businesses into the ground is one of those sides. Wal-Mart was created using that exact principal. I haven’t stepped foot inside a Wal-Mart in over a month and if I get my way, I never will again. You really shouldn’t either. Hang on, I think I hear the door…it’s probably the Walton Family Assassin Squad…be right back.

I don’t think Starbuck’s operates under that principal. From what I’ve heard they’re a very good company to work for. They treat their employees well and they do make really good coffee. On the other hand they represent everything the corporate machine stands for in the eyes of most people in America. Their organic products are a little hard to come by so after this last bag, they’ll have to miss out on the eight dollars I spend on their coffee every ten days or so. I’m sure they’ll be just crushed.

There are local brew houses in the Nashville area that use organic products and eventually I’ll buy from them. I won’t even have to go into town to do it because Bongo Java, bless ‘em, has an online ordering system. If you live around here and you don’t know about Bongo then shame on you. Go to their website…go on…why are you still here?

I’ve said this before but finding a place to start with all this was the hardest part for me. What I’ve done was start big and work my way down to small with regards to the places I shop. I began with places like Kroger, Wild Oats and Publix in order to figure what I will use the most without spending too much money. In the future I’ll try to ween myself off those places as much as possible by looking into what I can buy in local stores without disrupting my cash flow. For example, I mentioned trouble finding real Asian products at Publix the other day. There are two small Asian markets within five miles of my apartment. One of them is literally across the street. Problem solved. Drive around your own area and you’ll probably be able to make the same discoveries.

Then there’s eating out. First of all try not to eat fast food. We all know it’s gross. Nobody in their right mind walks into McDonald’s expecting to wolf down a bunch of health food. You pretty much turn off the part of your brain that’s asking “What the hell are you about to eat?” right before you order a Big Mac and fries. Odds are there’s a smaller café or diner somewhere near your job/house that’s owned by someone in your neighborhood where you can get a better meal for maybe a dollar or two more. Who would you rather support? The guy down the street or the guy two thousand miles away with the SUV and the tennis club membership?

Granted you’re taking a chance by stepping into a locally owned restaurant that you’ve never been to before. The service could suck, the food could be crap, etc. I’ve worked for enough small business owners over the year to know that, if something goes wrong with your experience in their place, they WANT to know about it because they want to fix it because they want you to come back. These people rely on word of mouth above all else. It’s what keeps them going.

This is where your temper comes into play. Here’s a scene. You’re on your lunch break and you’re starving. Every day you’ve passed up the little diner that’s right down the street from your office for the sure thing which is a thickburger and curly fries from Hardee’s. Business at the diner has been picking up slowly over the past few months. You’ve noticed so today you skip Hardee’s and head to the diner, which is what you should have been doing all along.

Anyway you sit down and order the meat and three. The server is nice and prompt. You’re food comes out and the chicken is cold and the veggies are overcooked but the mashed potatoes are excellent. You can go one of two routes here. You can make a fuss, lose your shit and bitch at the server which will get you absolutely nowhere. Or you can be calm about it. Flag down your server and CALMLY explain the problem. If you start off with something like “I don’t want to make trouble but...” they will listen to you and do what they can to fix the problem. The most important thing for you to do is give them another chance. Remember that these are people and people make mistakes. Accept their offer to replace it, which is the first thing they’ll do. Don’t be that customer that goes all drama queen by saying “Oh! I couldn’t possibly eat after this outrage!”. Bullshit. You know if you leave you’re gonna run straight for the drive thru at Hardee’s.

Now, if they replace the food and it’s still terrible, then it’s okay to say, “You know what, I still can’t eat this. I think I’m just gonna take off”. Again, don’t make a scene. They’re gonna know they screwed up and they’ll probably feel pretty bad about it. They won’t need you rubbing it in by freaking out. You’re all ready gonna punish them enough by A) Never coming back and B) Telling the people you know about the crap food you got there. And you have every right to do that.

The odds are just as good that they’re gonna replace the food for you and it will be really good the second time around. Keep in mind that by getting you a new portion, they’ve fixed the problem. They may or may not comp the food for you. In my mind, they should but they may not and there’s really not anything wrong with that. You ate it didn’t you? You liked it, right? Okay then pay for it. Say you bought a car and the first one they gave you was a lemon. After several attempts at fixing it, the company gives up and gives you a different car. Does that mean you shouldn’t have to pay for the car? Do me favor, try to explain that to a car dealer so they can laugh you off the lot and I can watch. Oh yeah and don’t take shit like this out on your server. It’s not our fault when the kitchen undercooks your steak.

This ended up in a different place then I thought it would. I’m really not writing a treatise on how to be a good customer just because I’ve been in the restaurant industry too long. That’s not the point. The point is that I think people as a whole tend to be harder on small businesses and that’s not necessary. It does take a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to branch out and go to new places. Trust me, I know. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it and shopping/eating locally is something we all should do as much as possible. I’m not even there yet but give me a little more time and hopefully I will be.

And now I’m out. It’s a nice day outside and I’m gonna take a walk before I start dinner. I’ll get to the household stuff and my big Wild Oats adventure in the next day or so. Until then…


“You make me wanna smoke a cigarette. You make me wanna be someone else…” – Graham Colton