Midtown Olive Oil — Local services in New Bern

Normally I love this store. We come to New Bern about once a month and every time I stop in for their wonderful products and spend quite a bit of money each time. The most recent visit was quite a disappointment though. The staff was very rude to me and my mother in law, it was close to closing which I hadn't realized when I had requested a taste of one of the standard olive oils (I had planned to purchase at a minimum 2 large bottles). The staff informed me it was too late to taste (which is fine!) and essentially rushed us out of the store because, as she put it in a very rude tone, "we don't do tastes after 3:30 so we can clean up because we close at 4...which is 7 minutes from now." I understand wanting to be able to leave on time from work but there was no reason to be rude. I am very disappointed because I have driven 1.5 hours to specifically go to this store many times. I didn't want to post this publicly but couldn't find another way to get the attention of the owner and let her know this...

I had been a regular customer at Midtown Olive Oil when I stopped by to check out their 'Everything Green' St. Patty's Day Sale. The woman assisting me asked a co-worker, whom I believe was the store manager (or owner), what was included in the sale? At first, he seemed unaware of the sale. When she explained, he pointed indifferently to a jar of olives and said to me, "I guess the olives are on sale. They're green." A bit put off by his brusque tone, I pointed to a line of oil canisters, all with green signs, and asked simply if any of them were included in the "everything green" sale. To which he responded in an incredibly offensive tone, "We're not selling the signs." I was shocked by his attitude and quickly assured him that in the future I'd be buying all my olive oil at the very friendly and well-stocked Beaufort Olive Oil store. I highly advise others to do the same, unless you like...

Frankly, I love the products but something today has totally turned me off the store. I've always been told that the bottles were returnable. I've been shopping there a long time and had a stockpile of bottles I've been meaning to return. About a year ago I tried to return them and was told they couldn't take them by order of the health department. Several months later I tried again and was told they couldn't take them because the foil had to be removed so I did that and ran them through the dishwasher again. Today, they're not returnable, only refillable. Ridiculous! They're now...