Why Kroger?

Kroger is back in my good graces with the grocery game, and inquiring minds want to know how I left them in the first place. I will oblige, but first, you must know that my life is about other stuff, too, not just grocery stores. Judging from the majority of my blogs so far, you would think it's all I ever think about. I'm just excited, OK? I'll move on to other subjects as life goes along. No worry beef curry.

So... here we go.

When we first moved to Texas, I thought Kroger was the best grocery store available. Josh's parents really like their Colby Jack Cheese. They buy blocks of it and freeze them, and each one is savored. They don't have a Kroger where they live so they stock up on it when they come visit us. So maybe this behavior spurred me on. I went to Kroger all the time when we lived in League City.

When we moved up here, I started doing mystery shops at HEB and I noticed that they really push the friendly staff factor. They get graded on it -- even the guys gathering carts in the parking lot were expected to say hello to you if you happened to walk by them on the way in or out of the store. Pretty soon, our HEB stopped getting mystery shopped because they basically kicked butt on everything they were expected to do. They were nice and helpful and I liked their dry bulk section where you can get dried mango that looks the right color (can't stand the neon orange ones - you know they added something to make them that unearthly color) and oatmeal that hasn't been crushed to powder (takes longer to cook, but the texture is worth it).

So HEB started to look good and they are right across the street from Kroger, so it would not have taken much for me to switch, but I didn't switch until one fateful night...

I went shopping at Kroger around 10pm and had filled my cart to overflowing. When it came time to check out, the only stands open were the do-it-yourself ones. There were a couple of employees standing around and they did not acknowledge me standing there until I asked them, "Do I have to check out here?" And then one of them said, "Uh, yeah." I was flabbergasted. Did he notice how much crap I had in my cart? Keep in mind that the DIY stands were not as cool as the ones at Wal-Mart with the conveyor belt to put stuff up on or the multiple bag holders that turn and let you keep bagging until there are six bags full. I began to scan my items and realized that I didn't have anywhere to put them. I was getting a burning in my face and it was starting to spread out to my ears. I was getting worked up at the ridiculousness of the situation.

I had not done more than a few scans when, with a toss of a ramen noodle package, I turned to the two slackers and said, "You know what, if you can't open a regular stand and check me out, then I'm just going to leave my cart here and go home. This is so stupid." They had been standing there joking around with each other not caring that I was about to buy enough groceries to pay for both of their wages for the night and then some. I was so mad and then they had the audacity to be perturbed by my behavior? Uh-uh. So they fumbled around a bit, scanned everything for me, I paid, left and never went back.

Until now. Money changes everything. I still think the service at HEB is better and the produce is better, but Kroger has better sales and is fueling my weekly excitement and latest addiction. What can I say? Maybe those two jokers got fired or maybe they changed the policy. I noticed that when Susie and I went to check out these last two times, they automatically opened up a real checkout stand without being asked. That's right. That's how it should be.

You know what's funny? When I did mystery shops I didn't get paid very much. You were expected to spend at least $10 and then they paid you $12. So I figured it was like getting a $12 coupon. Looking back at it now makes me laugh because getting $77-$100 off is so much better!