Bulk Barn — Restaurant in Carleton Place

I have had issues with the supervisor numerous times. Today's experience was the worst with this woman. Here's the incident report I will be sending head office:

"I placed an on-line order on Wednesday the 24th, indicating I would be picking it up late morning on Thursday the 25th of March. I printed off my form and arrived at the Bulk Barn in Carleton Place shortly after ten in the morning. There were no cars in the parking lot in front of the store and because I did not have my cell phone I went to the front door with the order form I printed off. When I peeked my head in the door there were no employees to be found and absolutely no customers in the store. I waited just inside the door to notify an employee that I was here to pick up my order. I finally saw a young lady coming down the aisle and I held up my printed off form informing her I was there to pick up my on-line order. Instead of asking me for my name, she told me to leave the store because I did not have a mask on. I informed her that I had a health exemption and I just wanted to pick up my on-line order. Another person, who I assume is the manager/supervisor, was walking down the aisle and before this young lady could ask me for my name so I could leave the store and proceed to my vehicle, the Manager rudely told me to leave “immediately” because I did not have a mask on. I told her I had a health exemption and she not only proceeded to lecture me but she also told me to read the Health Unit’s guidelines. I explained to her that both my husband and I have serious health exemptions and we have read the guidelines multiple times. I stated that no where in the guidelines does it stipulate it is mandatory for people with health exemptions to wear masks. The Manager proceeded to argue this point with me. I got seriously irritated by her disrespect to customers and pleaded with her to just get my on-line order. They FINALLY asked me for my name.

I went outside to wait in my car for my order. The Manager came out with her hockey stick and asked me to pop the trunk so she could put my order in there. She also asked me for permission to close the trunk. I of course gave her permission. When she walked by my car to return to the store, I again said something to the effect that no where in the Health Unit guidelines does it state that people who have health exemptions are required to wear a mask. She interrupted me and to my horror, the young lady who I initially had contact with in the store was videotaping the interaction. Seriously??? This is the way Bulk Barn employees are trained??? The situation did NOT have to escalate to this extent. All they had to do was ask me for my name and get me my order so I could be on my way. I was only at the doorway and holding up the print out of my on-line order and requesting service. It was clear I was not going to shop in the store.

This is not the first time I have been lectured by this Manager at this particular Bulk Barn and clearly she is actually ignorant of the Health Units...

I am writing to express my deep concern about one of your Bulk Barn locations. I have had two encounters with the Carleton Place Bulk Barn Manager that has made me not want to return. Bulk is my go-to place for buying food with little to no packaging. So that’s why I love how you implemented the bring your own reusable bag or container program. I understand the Reusable Container Program has standards; clean, weigh, scoop, pay. I have reusable cloth bags, that I had washed 2 hours before heading to the store. I use these bags to retrieve my fruits and vegetables from the grocery store and would like to REUSE them at Bulk Barn after they are WASHED of course. Although, I have gone into the Carleton Place location twice with the same WASHED bags and the manager continuously rejects them because they have a small stain that I cannot get out. (Unless I use a chemical, but as I am sure you can understand I am trying to be ECO-FRIENDLY)

The one day I went to the Carleton Place Bulk Barn I read the big green sign at the front of the store. (Your Reusable Container standards) The first step says Clean, so I said to myself perfect, I just washed them they are clean. The second step is to weigh your bags, they already have the weight on them so therefore I should be able to jump to the third step, Scoop. I put the product I wanted to purchase in my reusable bag and headed to the checkout, the manager asked me if they were inspected before filling them up. No, I did not because nowhere on the big green sign said to get the cashier to inspect your bag before using them. It just said clean, weight, scoop and pay. So, she rejected the bag, even though the product is already in them. So, since she rejected it, I had to pay for the bag plus the product. I was nice and just accepted the fact that I messed up. What I could have done was dump the product in the garbage and walked out, but I didn’t. A couple of days later I came back because I needed to get more bulk foods, I 100% washed my bag before I came, although like I said before they had a small food stain on them. I proceed to the cashier to get them inspected. The young cashier I was dealing with was very nice, she was helping me and weighing the bags. The manager comes in and was VERY rude to the young cashier and then told me that she can’t accept the bags because of the small stain. I immediately left the store and went to Walmart to pick from their bulk food section, it was very easy at Walmart and everything went smoothly.

If Bulk Barn as a company wants to make a difference and help consumers buy less packaging, I believe you should make it easier for the customer to reuse their bags. Making it difficult will steer them away, just like how it did me. If I can’t reuse my bags at Bulk Barn because they have a small stain on them, that will not come out in the wash, I will not shop there, and I will never recommend the company to...

As a customer i was just turned away by a woman working at this location. Came in with my reusable glass container which I had just cleaned at home. After asking her if I could have this weighed she promptly rejected me not stating a reason. When I asked why, she stated "that is dripping wet", obviously not knowing that my container needed to be bone dry I said "Is that an issue?" Still thinking this was a joke of some sorts... She then proceeded to laugh at me and talk down to me stating that there are health code violations against water..... Obviously i knew i was going to get nowhere with someone like this i left.... This is the second time i have come into this bulk barn and had a bad experience. The owner however is very friendly and polite(at least i think he is the owner as one day he opened the store). If you have to go here try to avoid the staff..... Perhaps next time please advise this staff member(if still employed) to simply offer paper towel or something to dry out someones container, instead of...