Pennsylvania Macaroni Co.

Nice selection. Efficient and helpful counter staff. One rude and high-strung checkout person. Still, overall a good experience.

I took my mother Saturday shopping today in the strip; coffee, chocolate, sundries. Stopped at Penn Mac for meats and cheeses. It was early afternoon and not overly busy. I asked a counter person about an item and she came right out from behind and walked me over to it.

When we arrived at the checkout with our ~15 items there was no wait. As I brought my basket up to the line the cashier told me to put everything on the roller. I noticed it was said as an order as opposed to a request. I just said, ‘yes Ma’am’ and complied.

Beyond the checkout I noticed some empty boxes and I asked if I could use one. She looked and said they were full, so I pointed out that they weren’t. She seemed rattled.

The cashier from the next aisle asked what it was I needed and I said “ I was just asking…”. Our cashier then, raising her voice, began to tell me off to the effect of:

‘If you would just be patient I’ll take care of this. I’m handling it. You don’t need to..[I was stunned and don’t recall the details]…Just be patient and I’ll take care of it.’

I said nothing and just looked at her pretty much dumbfounded.

I wanted to say that’s ok we’ll just use the available bags. I decided, given her outburst, that it was best to just keep quiet and I never said another word to her. I would have been happy with a ‘no, we don’t provide boxes’.

I think the other cashier then went to look for another box. Our cashier said as much and mumbling something about the size of the box either being too small or too large.

At this point, what had been no line was now 3 or 4 deep. Our cashier ‘apologized’ to those in line, presumably on my behalf, saying that there would be a little wait.

A box (about the same size as the one I had pointed out) was dropped off. The cashier boxed the items and wished us a good day.

[edit: I originally had this rated as a 2 but in retrospect I’ve upgraded to a 4. I believe the other cashier was trying to be helpful and someone (a manager?) did seem to appear to oversee at the end. Probably why we were wished a good day]