Haggen — Local services in Olympia

I've been shopping at Haggens for several years now and have always found the employees to be very kind, polite and extremely helpful! However, this past Saturday around 6 pm I had the rudest encounter with a check out clerk than I've experienced at Haggens or almost any other business I've frequented who I eventually found out was a manager at Haggens.

I got in line and shortly after the checker flatly/abruptly and I felt by her tone of voice, rudely told me she was closing that checkout after "this one." Referring to her current customer and at the same time put out the "Closed" sign on the conveyer belt and went back to checking out the current customer; no apology or "I'm sorry for the inconvenience". I didn't say anything, just went to the next checkout.

I felt it was such an unusual and poor customer relations event, I needed to share the experience with a manager. I asked at the next check out if a manager was available. The checker there indicated she was the manager. When I started to say, "The woman who was at the other checkout", she interrupted me saying, "She was that woman." I didn't recognize she was the same person and I thought okay, better to speak directly to her than someone else. I started to explain I thought the way she had handled the situation (primarily her tone) was rude since she hadn't already put out the closed sign until after I was in line. Given the chance I would have just suggested a better way. All she needed to say was, "I'm sorry, I didn't get the closed sign out before you arrived, but I have to close this check out when I finish with this customer. I'd appreciate you going to the next open check out and I apologize for any inconvenience." BAMB! No problem from me! Instead of giving me a chance to educate her, she started to argue with me denying that the sign wasn't already in place. I expressed again that "No, you put it out after I was in line." She declared in a defensive, argumentative and somewhat sarcastic tone, "No, I had someone else put it out!"

Obviously, without realizing it, with that declaration she was confirming that her denial that the closed sign was already out was inaccurate. This exchange was far more unprofessional and concerning. Normally, I would have just assumed the person was having a bad day and moved on. But this was so very unusual than any other time at Haggens I thought someone in authority would want to know.

I've literally trained thousands of people in a variety of customer service environments in a 50 year career. I'm very well aware of dealing with difficult customers and equally aware of how to communicate appropriately and professionally with all kinds of customers; from easy to difficult.

So, the question is, "So, what would I want to see happen?"

Would I want someone to be terminated for this...NEVER! Observed over time to determine if this kind of rudeness and argumentative attitude is a pattern for this employee...YES! Then the appropriate action will be obvious.

My experience tells me, poor performance is usually a result of...

customer service: 5 stars taste: 4 stars accessibility: 5 stars top wedding cake tier 5in red velvet round... 0 stars.

After shopping around i picked them to make a tiny "personal sized" red velvet cake for the top tier to my wedding cake tower. I went in and pointed to the specific cake in the show case, That is the size i want! they wrote everything down and we discussed how to frost it no problems. I really didn't care except cream cheese frosting.. i still have the recite for not even $20 5 inch cake. i was so excited!

the week before our plans changed and i was not going to be able to pick up the cake myself. I went in and they were amazing! soooo helpful! i paid for it in advance and again went over its a small 5 inch personal cake for the top tier to my wedding cake. my Future mother in law is going to be picking it up at whatever time.

i told my MIL what to expect: 5 inch small red velvet cake frosted with cream cheese frosting.

I dont know what i expected, but what arrived wasnt it. the box was HUGE compared to the cake, so sliding was a huge problem. AND IDK what happened but this maximum of 3 layered cake was almost a foot tall.. the sticks to hold it straight were sticking out the top of the cake, it had fallen over and of course the cream cheese frosting came clean off, wasnt contained at all by the box, the lid was wide open, so the not exposed cake was dry was could be. trying to paste the frosting back onto the cake was horrifying and made what my sister described as a nice "period cake". we ended up cutting it in half (so it was the right height) and covering the red speckled frosting in ghram crakcers (beach wedding so it kinda worked). no body touched the top tier and we threw it away. i had 3 tiers of amazing cinnamon rolls, so whatever chalk it up as a good laugh.

i mentioned it was a top tier to a wedding cake several times.. i pointed to the specific size and shape i wanted and have the paper stating so much. yet this cake that arrived was cone shaped.. maybe 7 inches on the bottom and 3 on the top so the cake toppers i had picked didn't work. im sure if i bothered with it, they would refund me. but for a whopping $20, its not worth the extra errand... besides they were nice to begin with.

just make sure you are getting EXACTLY what you thought you were ordering. in hindsight i should have sent a picture of what to expect to the MIL who picked it up. but whatever. thats lifes.

the computer i am on doesn't allow for pictures to be posted so they will...

Some unique things, but RIDICULOUSLY HIGH PRICES for everyday groceries. I prefer to support the co op or any place else , because every item I normally purchase during a shopping trip is 2-3$+more at haggen than I pay anywhere else. On a large shopping trip that adds up fast. I don’t know why anyone would choose to shop here for day to day groceries unless they are so rich they just don’t care about their spending.

To be fair , I gave 3 stars because they ARE AMAZING for their speciality & unique items. They have some unique hard to find fruits/veg. &if you’re looking for gifts in a hurry they have beautiful flowers, sees candy, local craft foods&drinks, huge variety in the meat& deli section & some beautifully decorated large cupcakes in the bakery. If you are having an event and need fancy sandwiches, charcuterie, bbq meats, artisan cheeses& breads etc they have an amazing selection that far beats out any other grocery store in Oly in my opinion. I compared the price of sees candy on the company website vs in haggen &it was not super overpriced, neither are the cakes etc , but their everyday stuff seems to be where they price gouge the most. I once did a comparison between haggen, Albertsons, Fred Meyer & the co op comparing all the normal food I buy and haggen was way way higher. Recently I moved back to this side of town & I use their pharmacy so occasionally I think I’m going to try to grab some groceries. But Every time I end up walking out with nothing for myself because I just can’t stand to be taken advantage of to such a large extent. The 8 pack of La croix I buy regularly is over $1 more, the applegate farms lunch meat is $2 more, applegate chicken nuggets $3 more, stouffers Mac& cheese 12 oz over $1 more, Fran’s 16oz 100%whole wheat bread $2.50 more . & it’s like that with everything in the middle isles. The other issue I’ve had is their milk almost every time I’m there at least once a month all their haggen or dairygold milk is about to expire within a few days. I pick up wic for my grand baby & it’s frustrating when I can’t get all the milk because nobody can use that all before it expires. They also don’t have hardly any of their wic accepted items marked except for their own brand. So you won’t know you can buy dairygold milk or any other brand besides haggen. I like getting the grand babies wic vegetables here because they have a great selection but I wish I could get all my wic here easily not have to go somewhere...