Management Comes From Lazy Stock

(I am a rather short woman – only five feet. My local grocery store has recently remodeled and made their shelves much taller. I can’t reach a lot of items I need.)

Me: *to stocker in aisle* “Excuse me; could you get something down off the top shelf? I can’t reach.”

(Stocker gets it down, asks if they can get anything else. I decline and move to the next aisle. Again, I can’t reach. I see a passing manager and flag him down.)

Me: “Can you hand me three cans of the tomatoes on the top shelf?”

(The manager hands them down and walks off without a word. I move on to the next aisle and realize I again can’t reach the top shelf. In this aisle there are cases of soda cans. I look around for an employee but find none. I head up to the front to find help. The same manager is there.)

Me: “I have something else I can’t reach. Is there someone who can help me?”

Manager: *sighs loudly* “Let me try and find someone.” *over PA* “Customer needs assistance up front.”

(We wait several minutes but no one comes. He tries again.)

Manager: “I need a stock person to the front.”

(No one arrives.)

Manager: “JASON! Come up front!”

Nearby Cashier: “Jason left. He was done five minutes ago.”

Manager: “There’s no one who can help.”

Me: “You can’t grab something really fast?”

Manager: “I am the manager. Stock people do that.”

(I went back to the aisle alone and made stairs out of cases of soda cans. I walked up the stairs to reach the shelf!)