Hays Supermarket — Local services in Caruthersville

Full disclosure: I’m not from the area and have never been to Hays before today. I went to the store on 1/23/22 to buy some Swiss and Haverti cheeses. I approached the deli counter, which was staffed by 2 employees, both of whom had their backs to the customer counter so after waiting 3-4 minutes, the one employee (young white female with glasses) realized there were 3 customers patiently waiting to be helped.

I asked her for 1/2 lb. of Swiss and 1/2 lb. of Havarti. She sliced the Swiss, handed it to me and said “thank you”. I stood there, waiting for her to slice the Havarti, and she finally asked, “Is there something else you need?”. I responded, “Yes, 1/2 lb. of Havarti”. She looked around the cheese counter and pulled out Provolone and asked, “How much do you want?”; I clarified that I wanted Havarti, not Provolone. She pulled something out of the cheese counter that was clearly not what I asked for, cut 1 slice and asked if it was thick enough. It was the right thickness, but it was ROAST BEEF. I told her to forget the Havarti and I’ll just take the Swiss.

I am in the food business and am a Registered ServSafe Food Protection Manager Instructor, so I understand and teach the importance of good food service sanitation. The meat slicer the young lady used was nothing short of disgusting and looked like it had not been cleaned and sanitized all day. I understand staffing good employees is tough, but basic sanitation should be made a priority. Frankly, if I went to any of my 96 accounts and found a meat slicer in that condition, the employee and manager would face disciplinary write-up, at a minimum.

I understand that the citizens of Caruthersville have few grocery options, but Hays needs to seriously step up their game. I went to Hays once, I won’t make that...

The deli manager makes the employees cook smelly, expired chicken. I witnessed a girl cut her finger & still continue to cut meat. The whole staff is racist and family owned. There’s a lady in the deli with a trach who has been seen doing unsanitary things while working. . I would not recommend shopping here. I’m going to contact the better...

Checker, Sam, tried to ring up my stuff with someone else's. When I told him it wasn't mine he said " Well, who the hell does it belong to then?" As if it was my fault. I resisted the urge to have Mr. Potts called up to the checkout but I really should have said something about it then. I WILL NOT step foot in that...