Bad attitudes are contagious

When my friend A* moved to Chapel Hill from Boston she hated it. She hated everything about it. And anyone who talked to her got an earful about how awful Chapel Hill was. It is hard to make friends when you have a terrible attitude. I find that whenever we move, I go through the same thing as A*. At first I detest our new home and hate everything about the area. Nothing works, nothing is right, etc.

So, pardon me, while I vent. I know things will get better...

We went to the closest grocery store today -- Big Y. It is a huge store... and yet somehow had nothing. Not our two favorite brands of bread. Not the ingredients we wanted. No gluten-free hamburger helper meals. It was depressing.

To make matters worse no one smiled. When we go to Publix everyone smiles at everyone. The checkout people are cheery and friendly. At Big Y it was like being in an alternate universe where everyone was in a bad mood.

Waah! I wanna go HOOOOOOOOME!

8 comments:

GBK Gwyneth said...

How frustrating :( But I'm confident you'll find your way as time goes on. There'll be a great natural foods store that you'll son wonder how you lived without (I hope).

As for the smiling and friendliness, I had the same thought when we were in Northampton (MA) a couple weeks ago. People walking by on the sidewalk kept their eyes down and didn't respond to my smile or "hi" as we passed. How sad :(

Anonymous said...

ha... welcome back to the northeast. nothing changes up here!

L

Anonymous said...

It will get better....as you know!!

Warning.... this is not gonna help...but it really happened today and I just wanted to pass it on because it was so cute. :)

Bentley came home and said, "I am so sad, mommy. Nickie is gone." I said "I know....it is very sad when people move." Bentley said, "I love Nickie. It is just not going to be the same without him. He is so adorable. He always hugs me. I miss him."

Big Y Social Media Dept. said...

Good Morning,
I just wanted to take a moment to Welcome you to the Northeast and thank you for shopping in our Big Y store the other day. I am terribly sorry you didn't feel welcomed when shopping with us. We take a lot of pride in our customer service and I hope that your next trip to your store we have another opportunity to show you what we are all about! I am also sorry to hear about some brands that you would like to see. If you would take the time to contact us:
https://www.bigy.com/contact/index.php
and Select social media. I would be more then happy to see what I can do to get your favorite brands. Again welcome to the area and please enjoy the Holiday's in New England its a really magical time to be here.
-Big Y Social Media Team

Annie said...

I wandered over from Tina's blog... In any case, one thing I discovered is that often smaller stores have more variety. It is counter-intuitive, but it was explained to me that large stores focus on selling LOTS of the basics, so the concentrate on the "big lots" and you are likely to find more and different brands elsewhere.

Joe Ganci said...

It's not a myth that southerners are friendlier than northeasterners, though things seem decidedly friendlier nowadays in NYC than they were when I was growing up.

I had some friends six or seven years ago that came to visit us here in Virginia. At the time, they were living in Camden, NJ (which they affectionally called the armpit of the world). When they arrived, they told me that they had stopped at a K-Mart to ask directions as they were a little lost. They were still in shock that the person they asked not only was nice to them, she was supernice, walking them outside the store to point them in the right direction.

Yep, that's the difference.

When I was in NYC a couple of years ago, I got a little lost while driving in Manhattan trying to find my way to LaGuardia Airport (I didn't have GPS at the time). At a red light, I lightly honked my horn to get the attention of the gentleman in the pick up truck next to me. (Yes, there are pick up trucks in NYC.) He immediately turned to me and without hesitation gave me the finger! I was so surprised I laughed out loud and made the universal sign for lowering one's car window (even in today's electronic window buttons). He lowered his window and readied for an argument, it seemed. I then asked him with a smile if he knew the way to LaGuardia. His demeanor then totally changed, becoming the friendliest guy in the world and told me the way.

I'm still shaking my head!

Joe Ganci said...

That's nothing you see every day, a retail store responding to a personal blog. Kudos to Big Y for making an attempt.

Katya said...

I know... I was SHOCKED when the comment came through. I have a pretty small blog with a tiny following (less than 50 people regularly read my blog) so I was amazed when I got that comment.

Good for them. Maybe we will give them another chance. :-)