Free cottage cheese, or how I joined the "Un-rung Club." (485 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.66 on 11 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by mc (View user info) at 2006-08-02 19:22:50 EDT
I moved to this hellhole around 3 years ago. A decent paying job and school have kept me here, but no longer have the same allure they once did. A lot of things bother me about this place, but those are to be saved for a different post. The topic of today's discussion is ethnic based and deals with my observations of the local culture - specifically the Hispanic population.
The building where I do my day to day thing is located in the business district, specifically in the downtown metro area. The vast majority of the metro area's buildings are either corporate headquarters, assembly factories or shipping/receiving plants for produce and merchandise stores. The latter two employ a majority (95%) of Hispanic workers which results in the neighborhood becoming 100% Chicano. A Chicano neighborhood is obviously going to have stores that cater solely to its inhabitants, and as such, there are certain shops that open that wouldn't be seen in other neighborhoods - or outside of Mexico for that matter. One such shop that is currently being opened by Fry's Grocery Stores is the Mercado or market for you non Spanish speaking folks.
The main separating points between a regular store and a Mercado, at least here, are such delicacies as fresh Chorizo (the devil's poison anus-sausage), dark meat chicken parts (fucking disgusting), and parts of the pig you wouldn't even feed your dog. Also, all signs are Spanish with English subtitles and almost all employees are (gasp) Hispanic as well. A store that completely caters to the Hispanic population is obviously going to supply them whatever they like display what they like and what is familiar to them - that I don't have a problem with. It's my choice to shop there (although it's the only grocery within 10 miles of my office) and I know that if I don't like it, I can always buy breakfast before I get on the freeway.
I line up in the same express lane I've been going to every morning at 8 a.m. for the past 5 months. I purchase the same exact thing that I eat every weekday morning; fruit, cottage cheese and water. The person checking out customers in this lane is either Filip, Margene or Bedilia (depending on the day) and I'm usually behind no less than 3 other customers. 4 out of 5 days a week at least one person in front of me receives most of their items free of charge. From un-keyed produce to un-scanned deli items, these pleasant, bi-lingual, Hispanic checkers are hooking their buddies up with free groceries. That is, until this morning.
It's probably not obvious to the average customer, honestly the only reason I became aware of it was because I'm retarded and pay attention to the (absence of) beep that accompanies an item being rung up. I'm still unsure why I started paying attention to the beep, but I noticed it was out of synch the first day I started shopping at this store. The checker will take the item and turn it completely the opposite way of the barcode, passing a surface of the item with no barcode over the scanner thus making it impossible to beep or ring up - they then bag the un-scanned item.
I've noticed this scam with growing interest over the past 5 months; even trying to remember faces of customers I'm in line with to "crack the code." Nothing I can see indicates that the checkers know these people or have any connection with them other than ethnicity. I have become quite enthralled (again, retarded) with trying to guess who and what items would stay un-rung and to the amount they would "save." That is, until this morning when I received my first un-rung item.
The small Chicano gentleman with the large cowboy hat, plaid shirt, gaucho-mustache and wranglers (aren't stereo types fun kids?) received his kidney beans, tortillas and Aquafina free, paying $14.45 for about $18.00 worth of food. The large muumuu-wearing grandmother behind him received no un-rung items and neither did the sideways-hat wearing Cholo behind her. This morning, however, the only white guy (at this precise time anyway) in the entire store received his cottage cheese free of charge. The checker (Filip) flipped the container over without a second glance up at me and bagged it with my apple, peach and Fiji.
My question, Uber, is what to do. Yeah, it felt cool to get a free item and suddenly become part of the "Un-rung Club" but I feel really weird about it at the same time. What if, one morning, they catch onto this little scam and the policemen (yes, there's always 2 at the exit) decide to detain anyone that comes through that day for questioning? They know I'm a regular, and the last thing I need right now is to go to jail over some cottage cheese. Granted, $3 x 5 (days a week) = $15, which is an average savings of $780 a year...hmmmm.
User Reviews
Submitted by fluff (user info) at 2006-08-23 18:29:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
For your tom cruise info you asshat. (Just don't post links anymore)
Submitted by TheCrystalShip (user info) at 2006-08-08 16:23:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Quit being a pussy. You want to get a bunch of people in trouble? Keep your mouth shut and quit noticing so much. Bastard.
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2006-08-03 16:32:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is fucked up.
I don't know what to tell you about letting it slide or not.
I'm a big fan of honesty but I am also a big fan of saving money and shopping wisely.
Besides, what do you do? Tell the cashier "I SAW THAT!"?
HMMMM I can't help you.
Submitted by mc (user info) at 2006-08-03 13:03:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Free apple and fiji this morning. *shrug*
Submitted by Darth_Famine (user info) at 2006-08-03 02:39:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you go there all the time, you know the cashiers by name
you are a regular customer, and mom and pops like this tend to hook thier regulars up when they can.
so thier profits are good, and now they are giving you the occosional free thing, so you will spend more money in there.
its all good, let em give it to you for free if they wanna
either that or they realized that you noticed and are trying to bribe you
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-08-02 21:14:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The Man needs his cottage cheese back
Submitted by ilikesteak (user info) at 2006-08-02 21:08:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Don't feel bad, you're in the club now, and you're better than everyone not in the club.
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-02 20:06:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
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Submitted by Demos74 (user info) at 2006-08-02 19:54:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Take it and go, and whenever you do get questioned, just play stupid and say that you've never noticed, say your sorry, and pay for the damn cottage cheese and leave.
Oh and the store workers are probably doing that because I'm willing to bet a white man opened that store to capatalize off of hispanics but his hispanic workers hate him and try to screw him over by not scanning random items.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-08-02 19:48:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
it's their way of sticking it to the man - the registers all get skimmed at the end of the day, and the proceeds go to smugglers to bring in more illegal laborers.
Submitted by mc (user info) at 2006-08-02 19:29:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
P.S.
I should have also said that I have been monitoring the display, just to make sure it wasn't a faulty "beeper."