The Onion Lady at the Superstore

Hello Everyone!
I suppose that a delayed post is better than none -- how life can get busy. But I can happily say it is not due solely to work that I am delayed in writing this post. It is due to being happy being outside, exercising, baking, going to/having parties and seeing family and friends and... you get the picture!! So, just a commentary about bagging those onions, at the Superstore folks.... BEWARE! My experience with the onion lady will never make me think the same way about bagging onions again!

We had just said goodbye to my sister, Alexis, as she went off on her adventure to the UK. It was bittersweet, happy to see my sister go off on her adventure, bike in box, cute clothes and computer in hand. Sad because we'll miss her lots and lots and lots. So the family had gone for a walk, and that was good. We dropped off at the Superstore to pick up a couple things for Butter Chicken and then......

Mom bought a bag of onions in the mesh bag. You know, and the little oniony bits go everywhere. And she had put the mesh bag in a plastic bag to prevent the oniony bits from going everywhere. At the checkout, the cashier huffed and puffed and almost blew her black conveyor belt away because she was trying to access the tag. My Mom, being the eternal polite saint, said to the hostile cashier, "Oh, Sorry!". And me, being the non-polite non-eternal saint said infront of the cashier, (**erroneously**) "Mom, you don't have to say sorry for putting your onions in a bag, because otherwise the oniony bigs go everywhere."

Well, this cashier would have leaped over and throttled me if she could have (I think this might have been her pet peeve -- people putting the mesh bag in the plastic bag) but instead she made it clear that her efficiency depended on people not bagging things unnecessarily. ????? ?This is a grocery store folks? Okay. But now to my back peddling.

I could see this lady was ready to pop out her eyeballs with irritation. So I explained that we apologize for way to many things in Canada. Back peddle back peddle. That we meant no harm by bagging the onions. Back peddle back peddle. That clearly she would understand about the oniony bits. Back back back peddle.

No, the cashier didn't understand my POV and she didn't understand my opinion on Canadians being too polite and apologizing for everything. Furthermore she appreciated my mother apologizing. Dig dig dig. The lady looked like she was ready to take out a Ninja sword and shuffle me right out the door.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, that customer service experience ranked a minus 2, though the Ninja-like anti-bag-your-onions-in-another-plastic-bag lady certainly should be given 10 points for knowing how to put a customer in their place. On a scale of 1-10 for humour, this experience was definitely a 10 because the Onion Lady gave us a lot to laugh at. Oh, and I practiced my back peddling!! Yes, it was a good lesson for me, on how to stick your foot in your mouth and try to sidestep/hop your way out of it (unsuccessfully) with the remaining injured and hobbling foot.

Well, it's approaching Christmas, so before you bag those onions for your stuffing and all those delightful appies, remember, the Onion Lady might be watching....
Amanda