Went to a Loblaws run store today. Told the cashier that the bag of chips I bought were Canadian and didnt have the leaf icon on the label. Her response: “so what?”. I explained I was just letting someone at the store know amd I completely understand it isnt her job. She responded sarcastically ‘obviously’. I then asked who I should let know. She said ‘if you really care go to costumer service’.
Needless to say, I will be going to Sobeys from now on. Fuck Loblaws.
I have to ask - how did you think a cashier can help with your request?
I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but cashiers are pretty low on the totem pole at Loblaws. If you knew it wasn’t their job, what were you looking for and what did you want in response?
I don’t shop at Loblaws. We’ve been shopping locally since the boycott last May.
But one of the things worth considering is what we expect of each other. Was one person’s rudeness reflective of everyone else who works somewhere?
There are so many way we can work together to make our communities and country stronger. Not shopping at Loblaws can be one of them. But for this reason? I’m sorry, it just seems strained and unusual.
I get it. I was just trying to figure out who to tell and was really taken aback by the defensive response. Ive run into a number of rude cashiers at this place as well, so Im venting somewhat.
My main concern is their high prices, poor quality, and general disregard for their customers. As the previous commenter pointed out, theyre setting up barriers everywhere to prevent shoplifting. One Loblaws place I go to has a grand total of two checkout stands left and only one cashier at a time. Theyre pushing self checkout hard which is just an excuse to downsize their staff. Meanwhile if you want to go to the bathroom you have to literally reenter the store because its past the barriers.
No other supermarket around here has these damn things and they arent pushing self checkout. Thats not to say places like Sobeys are ethical either. But at least they dont go out of their way to seem like they hate their own customers.
I’m with you on all those points. Loblaws is theft of a different kind and to your most important point: these stores have made it impossible for smaller stores to exist - so I also get that you might not have a choice.
And thanks for responding so kindly. Appreciate you.
My perspective here, to share, is that I don’t understand the hard time others are having. Not that I can’t understand - but rather that I am not in their shoes. I’ve been trying to cut all workers slack because they’re also trapped in a system and we’re powerful if we stick together - so forgive me if I also forgot to empathize with you.
Fuck Loblaws, but don’t expect Sobeys to be better at properly labeling Canadian products. The number of Canadian made products, by Canadian owned businesses that don’t have the little maple leaf tag next to them is very questionable in its own right. American brands selling the same product types have been getting the label, though, which is highly suspect.
Just assume those little stickers have been paid for at any big chain.
Oh for sure. But if both stores dont care and only one berates me for even asking about it, makes the decision of where to go easy.
Totally. Sobeys also hasn’t thrown up any plexiglass mazes, at least around here. That was the last time I ever stepped foot in a Lowblaws.
“Our most challenging category to mitigate the threat of retaliatory tariffs is produce where in Canada, in the winter, we do not always have viable alternatives,”
I know it won’t happen overnight but let’s get some Mexican produce lined up for next winter. They are being hit by tariffs too.
And it’s also time for more hothouse produce. Stop exporting our energy to the enemy and use it here to feed ourselves.
Yes! Now is the time to make deals with Mexico and other countries south of the border”basement”. Let’s prepare for next winter!
Americans !!! come up to canada to buy some grocery items…
The Canadian dollar is really cheap and American grocery is cheaper here…
When you buy discounted tarriffed US products, you get to buy cheaper groceries and Canada gets some money from the tarrifs, it’s a win-winFuck. No.
I’ve heard about a neat thing some shoppers are doing; if you check a product and see it’s from the US, turn it upside down, with the label showing point of origin facing out. Do the same for two or three more of that product on the shelf. Helps others see what to avoid.
Earlier this week I walked to three different grocery stores to find some diet cola because the only things the first two had in stock were Coke and Pepsi. Never thought there’d be a shortage of store-brand diet cola.
That’s so funny!
As an American, please keep that shit up. I’m rooting for you. We fucking deserve it.
Please consider making Ohio the 11th province by any means necessary. 🙏
Pretty sure Minnesota asked first, you’ll have to settle for something between 12th and 17th
Why would we want Ohio?
Washington and Oregon aren’t bad though
I assume they live there
Fair
Yet another reason to go for WA
OR is full of hipsters and white supremacists, just stick with the closest one
Ohio has Skyline Chili and Jungle Jim’s.
I agree that Jungle Jim’s makes up for the Skyline
Oh no! Anyways.
Their quality of food is trash anyways so good for our health.
Ya I don’t trust the FDA at all.
I was under the impression that the FDA used to be the gold standard for drug approval until Trump.
But yeah, our food standards have always been shit
No I took a few nutrition courses in my undergrad and they always bring up the FDA as the gold standard of how NOT to run things, its frequently laughed at and sometimes downright shocking. I don’t have specifics because I took those courses almost a decade ago now but if you’re curious you can always conpare CFIA (Canadian food inspection agency) with FDA and you’ll quickly see some clear differences.
Oh I’m not contesting our food standards. I just thought the FDA was the gold standards for drug approval. The big issue with American food standards, IMO, is it operates on “prove this is unsuitable for consumption”, instead of the safer method of “prove this is suitable for consumption”
Red food dye is a good example. It was only recently banned in the US after many other countries banned the use of it. https://www.fda.gov/food/hfp-constituent-updates/fda-revoke-authorization-use-red-no-3-food-and-ingested-drugs
exactly I was commenting on the food end of the spectrum since we only talked about it in a nutrition course, I’m not too sure about drugs but they’re probably a lot more rules
I read a paper recently while doing some research in my field. In Québec, a majority of food issues such as bacteria and unwanted contamination comes from the US while it’s a minority of the food that we import.
I’m on my phone and I’m pretty tired to find the source, but I read that about 6 months ago
It feels like we get so many recalls of US produce in Ontario due to salmonella. Typically, it’s the salad greens like lettuce and whatnot, but it seems very frequent.
IIRC the E. Coli in lettuce is from California and something about the produce farms being downstream from the animal farms, and all the fecal run off into the water.
They use waste water to grow their food sometimes. Because of the lack of water, they do very simple extraction of the waste (physical and a little bit of chemical, but not biological) and thus the chances of bacteria such as E. coli are very high in their farms. That’s why they use so much pesticides as well.
That’s one of the reasons I’ll never buy American bio food, I don’t trust the water they use to be safe.
I’ve always thought it was shitty lettuce.
Yeah my job is translating FDA announements for Japanese clients and I see recalls for US products quite often, so I had to text my family in Canada to make sure they aren’t buying such products. I guess that won’t be necessary though, because my family isn’t buying any US trash anymore.
Thats neat! I have a friend that works for Jamieson regulatory affairs, they read claims on new products and make sure they comply with our standards. I took a course a while back and we were told that in the states the burden of proof of a claim was on the FDA but in canada the regulations are much more strict, thats why a lot of products never make it over the boarder. Its pretty wild actually, thats why I said I don’t trust the FDA at all.
One of the complaints from the ‘Make america Healthy Again’ crowd is that the FDA needs to be doing what Canada and the EU are doing in terms of food safety and consumer protection.
Trump’s regime sure is a contradictory blob of nuts and weirdos.
Yeah, you really don’t want to see the insides of places like meat processing plants here.
good riddance to bad rubbish
Ops right, our food really is trash.
Cause and effect!
Keep it up, folks!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m drinking Old Fashioneds with all sorts of Canadian whiskies lately.
Is it as good? Not quite*, but it’s still good and I’ll be drinking them long after this shit show is over. I would love to see some better Canadian options though.
- I’m specifically talking about how I like my Old Fashioned, NOT neat whisky, which I also enjoy and would of course love recommendations on.
There are some solid Canadian whiskys if you go looking. I see you already mentioned the Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye, but I also recommend the Dillon’s Single Grain Rye, and the Alberta Springs 10 Year Vintage.
But if none of those tickle your taste buds right, may I suggest that you look to our more reliable trading partners and try a rum old fashioned or a mezcal old fashioned. I can also recommend Writers Tears for an affordable and excellent Irish whisky.
(sidebar: While Canadian whisky is definitely at “improving”, I want to note that Canadian gin is incredible. Ungava, Dillon’s, Georgian Bay, and Empress all belong in your cabinet. If you can find it, the Dillon’s Unfiltered No. 7 is the best gin I’ve ever tasted.)
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m in Saskatchewan and I’ve heard of Dillon’s, but I don’t remember seeing it in stores.
I do enjoy a rum old fashioned (with split Angostura and black walnut bitters and maple syrup) and a Oaxaca old fashioned. Rum old fashioned hits pretty close to bourbon old fashioned for me, but also leaves me with a terrible headache the next day when I have too many of them 😅.
What’s been your favourite Canadian whisky for an old fashioned? I normally have my whisky neat but I enjoy the occasional cocktail
So far, I’d say it’s the 100% ryes I’ve had. Lot 40, in particular, but Canadian Club 100% rye is not bad, too.
Crown Royal has a harvest rye that is 90% rye and (I’m guessing) the remainder is 5% rye and 5% barley that I’d like to try.
Good to know. I’ve got a bottle of the CC 100% rye that I bought recently, first time trying that one. I’ve only had it neat, maybe I’ll do an old fashioned next time
Good. Keep boycotting our stuff as we deserve it. Make our economy crash because of our dumbfuck President wants to ruin our lives by being greedy.
:)
