And you know what Wholefoods? Your customers SUCK!

Yeah, that's right bitch. I said it, your customers are rude and obnoxious and your stuff doesn't even taste that much better! Except for those stew beef chunks cause those are awesome. But I'm going to give up on shopping there cause the experience just isn't worth it.

I've been shopping at Wholefoods a lot lately cause it's the closest store to my job, easy to stop at with free parking, and has some low calorie and low sodium soups that I like. But it's really not worth the abuse from the other customers.

There really seem to be only 2 kinds of people who are in the store: homeless people who walk around for hours sampling the gourmet cheeses, dips, and whole grain pita bread slices; and the yuppie/hippy-wannabee granola bar people. I am usually the one and only fat person in the store and I wonder if anyone actually shops there (like me) cause they carry a few things I like and it's more convenient than stopping at a second store for the rest of the stuff.

So twice in the past week when I've stopped in to get some soups, I've encountered really weird and rude customers. Nevermind the employees who all seem to be from India and don't speak English (or speak at all for that matter.) It's more of a grunt when you think they're trying to tell you your total. Don't even try to make out that dollar amount. Just add $50 to what you thought you spent and you'll be in the ballpark.

Earlier in the week, my experience was just weird. There I was in line with all my soups when a young mother and her toddler son rolled up in a cart behind us. Her son obviously wanted some cracker or granola bar she was buying a box of but she said "No, you can't eat one of those before dinner. That leads to bad habits...Bad habits." She kept repeating the phrase "bad habits" drawing out the "aaaaa" in bad longer and longer each time and looking at me mockingly or in disgust as if to say that she didn't want her son getting fat by eating an organic granola bar before dinner. You might be thinking I'm just paranoid but keep in mind she was doing this whole dialogue within 2 feet of me, in line at the store. Man, I wanted to turn to her and just say "Do you have an issue? Am I bothering you by being here? Am I taking up too much space on your green planet?" But I figured that'd be over the top so I didn't. Instead, I let it go. Whatever, probably had nothing to do with me.

Then tonight I was there again stocking up on some more soups. The only real reason to keep going is they have low sodium broth that's actually low sodium rather than at the normal store where low sodium means 1 serving has 25% of your daily allowance instead of 50%. With all the broth I'm drinking lately, I really need to care about the salt intake. So I'm in the checkout line with me 15 little cardboard cartons of broth, a gallon of skim milk and a half gallon of whole milk for Steve, who's been wanting to try going back to whole since he really doesn't need to drink skim anyway and wants to incorporate more good fats into his diet. I pull into the 15 items or less line cause it's the only one that doesn't have a major line going on and I put my stuff onto the belt.

Standing in front of me, paying for her 2 items, is a middle aged fitness junkie (recognizable by her spandex aerobics pants and fleece jacket) and I never would have paid her a second glance had she not decided to initiate a conversation. "Do you realize this is the 15 items or less line?" she asked me. I looked at my stuff, which took up a whole 2 feet on the conveyor belt, if that, and said "Yeah, I realized that...how many things do I have? 16? 18?" She didn't say anything. So I said, "Well did you count them?" And she said no. So I counted (which is why I know I had 15 soups and 2 milks) and I said "Ok, 17...it doesn't seem like it's so extreme that you'd need to comment on it." And she said "You have to draw the line somewhere." Before collecting her stuff and leaving.

WTF? With having eaten nothing but protein shakes and soup for 5 days now, and having been up and running around from one side of town to another to another to another for appointments and work, I am by this point more than exhausted and hungry...this really jerked my chain. I don't know what her problem was, specifically since she was in front of me in line and had already finished paying and was thus holding me and the rest of the customers up by being a bitch. As I walked back to my car I couldn't help but think of all the things I should have said to her. My favorite is still: "Yes, I am aware it's the express lane but I didn't realize it was bitch lane too. Guess I'm in the right place."

I know it's not cause I'm fat but honestly, I sometimes wonder if she would have said anything if I were a skinny bitch like herself. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but my entire life has been littered with people picking at me and on me for no legitimate reason and as silly as it may seem to think it's based on my appearance, I don't see people acting this way towards others. Of course I've never lived a day in another person's body so I can't truly speak for it.

In any event, Wholefoods is not going to get any more of my business than I absolutely have to give.