Why a Roach Exiting My Kale Salad At Whole Foods Was The Beginning of One Of The Most Epic Love Stories Ever
written by Rashad Mubarak
..I wonder how many Whole Foods customers really thought that they were vegan before reading this.
Recently at Whole Foods something incredible happened, and I don’t mean in a “get the glitter ready honey, we won Powerball” kind of way, but in the literal sense of difficult to believe. Extraordinary.
Typically, every week out of routine, I peruse the aisles of Whole Foods, buying every thing from holy rose water to ginger detox that tastes like yesterday, using their eating area for all types of “let’s lunch meet, eat and be fat” scenarios, doing my part to boost both the local economy and, regrettably, my waist line.
Wednesday, March 23rd, felt especially Magical when I was able to score the Cranberry Kale Salad that I love plus a bit of fish at a place where post 9:11pm can equate to the sketchiest of sketchy. Immediately putting a lid over my plate, I proudly marched through the checkout line, floating over to the in-store eating area to really appreciate the moment. After washing my hands in the utmost lavender, I sat down and removed the cover from above my food, put down my phone, and sat in silence as my mouth studied the taste of the fish. And at that moment my world collapsed as a ROACH exited from the kale salad.
It was one of those delayed reaction, ESPN review-the-footage, Wow! moments where I didn’t know what to do--I really felt small. After feeling even more frustrated that my cell phone literally just died, and sitting “real still” for a few moments to regain my composure, I politely asked the two wonderful ladies sitting next to me if they could email me a photo of the debacle.
Afterwards, I marched over to the Customer Service counter eventually speaking with a manager that reassured me that the ROACH belonged to one of the customers, as it probably lived on their skinny jeans, and not at Whole Foods. I reminded him that this was impossible because my plate was covered as soon as I left the hot/cold bar and I never left my food unattended. Although my $5 was refunded for the meal and a $25 gift card was given to me, listening to him paint over the idea that a roach just exited my food, while I was actually eating it, made me question if I’d ever eat again. The manager never took down my contact info as there was never a plan to contact me.
I really feel like I just went through a bad breakup that took away all of my food, and I don’t have anyone to call that’ll actually listen to me be hungry...
Frustrated about the whole experience, and because I’ve never met a lonely roach, I posted the photos to social media.
I even made a twitter account just to complain, but I only have like 3 followers lol.
It felt like the twitter handle operator didn’t care at all about my experience, replying with a generic “Thanks for telling us.” Smh.
A Whole Foods employee even repeatedly harassed me on social media, calling me “…pathetic”, implying that I am a liar that is “…very good at twisting things.’’
Through some type of cashier telekinesis she was able to determine that I’ve never ‘..had a problem’ shopping at any Whole Foods store, ever.
I would suppose that somewhere in her imaginary mind she felt that I didn’t contact corporate the right way smh.
This is especially troubling considering that she doesn’t work at the Ponce de Leon location where the incident happened, and has never been one of my Facebook friends.
She continued to harass me even after I explained that I’d like for her to stop commenting on my post.
Numerous strangers commented that they too have seen college age roaches that love pizza at the Ponce location.
A source even alleges that this particular Whole Foods location has had a roach problem for years, scoring as low as a D on previous health assessments. (At the time of publication, the statement could not be fully verified).
The take away from it all is: Even if I spend hundreds of dollars per month at this store, asking for ROACH-free food makes me a spoiled brat. Perhaps it’s time for a customer service re-training from the bottom up, cashiers to managers to twitter handlers.
This comment, minus the extra ‘T’, pretty much sums up how over 2,000 people in Atlanta are feeling right now.
I’d love for “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store”to live up to their slogan.
Do your part to make sure this isn’t happening at your location. The corporate headquarters customer service department for Whole Foods can be reached at: 512–477–4455.
The original Facebook post can be viewed by clicking: Roach Story
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Rashad Mubarak is an Atlanta based Writer/Producer
Instagram: @mubarakfilms
