Just venting: Whole Foods complaints

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me the main compliant is that the people in the butchers and seafood counters are barely qualified. They used to be quite knowledgeable but now seem to be entirely the vaguely non binary purple haired pierced clique and they know nothing about the meats when I ask questions nor are they capable of doing special cuts or tying up roasts, the way they used to do without questioning in the past. The seafood counter people always botch up requests to cut a large piece of fish into smaller equal portions so I end up with unequal portions or portions so badly cut that I know I can't cook them properly. So I've stopped making these requests.

The actual meat and seafood remain good. But the staffing is very much unreliable. Maybe if they stopped hiring people based on the number of piercings or tattoos or degree of gender fluidity they'd find better staff.

Perhaps a better question is not who they’re hiring — but why the knowledgeable, helpful people who used to work there, some of whom saw their jobs as careers with career ladders have all left.

[Anonymous]

MOMS has better produce than WF but perhaps a smaller variety. The shopping experience is better as well.

[Anonymous]

OP, was this the Tenleytown Whole Foods? We moved here from Logan Circle and the Tenleytown one is noticeably awful in comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MOMS has better produce than WF but perhaps a smaller variety. The shopping experience is better as well.

But they have no deli dept and very little prepared food.

[Anonymous]

Silver Spring WF is the worst. And it drives me crazy that there is no consistency in whether they bag for you - just pick one and let customers know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring WF is the worst. And it drives me crazy that there is no consistency in whether they bag for you - just pick one and let customers know.

+1. I live nearby and used to stop there semi-regularly but it's just not worth it anymore, especially with the annoying parking situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fresh Market is better

Agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MOMS has better produce than WF but perhaps a smaller variety. The shopping experience is better as well.

But they have no deli dept and very little prepared food.

both good things

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, was this the Tenleytown Whole Foods? We moved here from Logan Circle and the Tenleytown one is noticeably awful in comparison.

No, Friendship Heights. Thanks for your comment though, since I’ve wondered if it’s worth the effort for me to go to Tenleytown instead. I really miss Fresh Fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazon has ruined Whole Foods. Period.

Yup

[Anonymous]

Just got back from the Friendship Heights one. Produce was pretty good/fresh but so limited in variety since Amazon bought it. Nothing unusual.

Also I think I was the only person in the place shopping for myself. Everyone else was an instacart shopper.

Also the past three times I've gone - only one checkout line open. Everyone else was self check out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, was this the Tenleytown Whole Foods? We moved here from Logan Circle and the Tenleytown one is noticeably awful in comparison.

No, Friendship Heights. Thanks for your comment though, since I’ve wondered if it’s worth the effort for me to go to Tenleytown instead. I really miss Fresh Fields.

Agreed but that was 25 years ago! Maybe more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring WF is the worst. And it drives me crazy that there is no consistency in whether they bag for you - just pick one and let customers know.

+1. I live nearby and used to stop there semi-regularly but it's just not worth it anymore, especially with the annoying parking situation.

Parking
Items not available
Wilted produce (why do they water down produce that much)
checkout
Inconsistent cashiers

The MOMs in Silver Spring is slated to open on September 19. Thank good! But the location is in an even busier area so not sure how parking is going to work.

[Anonymous]

I love Whole Foods. Still the only store that bands hundreds of artificial additives in their store, which for me is the entire point of shopping there, since I don't want to dissect every single tiny-print ingredients list.

Of course some produce won't be good if it's out of season! That's a rookie mistake, people.

And there will be occasional disappointments in other products. I posted on DCUM, many years ago, of my disastrous encounter with fresh, never-frozen, salmon from the Bethesda WF that had tiny worms in it, wriggling merrily after I baked it in foil (not enough, apparently). My preschool daughter noticed them after my son and I had taken our first bites. I now only buy fish that's frozen on ship - it kills the parasites.

[Anonymous]

bans, not bands