no shirt, no shoes, no... What the...?!?

This family came into the story today. They seemed typical Eugene fair, a lot of browns & greys in their clothing, sandals, & two kids, a boy around four/five & a girl less than a year old. They bought two bags worth of groceries & then relocated to the small bar we have near the deli & basically moved in. The male counterpart of the couple walked the length & breadth of the store (mind you, after they were done shopping) with the four year old, letting his child grab everything knee level to us grown & civilized folk & toss it onto the sales floor, making the most minimalist of efforts to put back anything his child tossed, let alone to curb the boy's behavior, while the mother of these children sat at the bar, mommy bird feeding the infant. I only recall three things that they bought, kale, an avocado & a one pound jar of sauerkraut, because these are the three items I watched as she first put them into her mouth, gnawed on them a bit & then took them out, an obviously practiced method of two finger retrieval, head cocked just slightly, to put them into her child's. Sauerkraut, pinch after pinch of sauerkraut, & this happened for two effing hours. It didn't take long before all employees present were talking about this & as I heard someone drop some remark about it taking all kinds of folks I thought to myself, "yeah but do we have to cater to them?"

So I offer up a small request to those who shop natural foods stores. Now I know y'all appreciate the fact that our stores are laid back, that a large portion of us are hippies, that on any given day there's a very good chance that a portion of our staff is even high. Sure you like these things, we all do. Natural foods is a nice place to work & it's a nice place to shop. But if you think that this laissez faire attitude gives you the right to act in whatever disrespectful, shameless or distressing way you do within the privacy of your own home, you are wrong. Effing wrong. This is still a place of business & I expect you to try your best to not make me feel uncomfortable or frustrated just as you expect me to not pee on your ankles.