Open Thread Wednesday 3/31/10

By on March 31, 2010 6:24 am in Brooklyn Heights
Flickr photo by aloucha

Flickr photo by aloucha

What’s on your mind.  Comment away!

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  • Montague resident

    Is there NO way the situation with Key Food can be addressed? It is the worst run grocer I have ever encountered. They have all those young men standing just outside of the cashiers lanes blocking passage out of the store but they rarely help bag groceries. The cashiers are rude, slow and are constantly talking to someone rather than working efficiently. When the store is full is the time when there are the fewest cashiers. The person on the 10 items or less lane is most often the slowest cashier. The “specials” are marked so that you will pick the ones that are not on “special.” The people in the “deli” section act like it’s a favor to wait on you and mostly they talk to a friend who is standing behind the counter. I won’t even mention how clean it is. I could easily go on. Do we stage a rally? Agree not to shop there one day as a protest? And ideas? I live half a block from there and it would be nice to have a decent place to shop–since it’s there! And might I also say if you have 2 screaming children and a huge stroller with you maybe there is a better time to shop!

  • behrry good

    Am I the only one hearing a lot of bells lately? I don’t think it’s tinnitis. Just seems like one of the churches bells is going haywire. I know it is a holy week and all but twenty minutes of ringing=bad headache.

  • Heights97

    Any word on if/when the wine store on Montague will be re-opening?

  • No One of Consequence

    The Key Food complaints are nothing new. Try Gristede’s for a week and you won’t mind so much. Or move to the burbs.

    You want to tell people what time they can go to the grocery store?

  • Bartmann

    I too have wondered about Key Food. Every Saturday I used to do most of my grocery shopping there. But after Trader Joes opened, I only shop at Key Food for odd things like seltzer or Draino. I’ll admit I had become accustomed to the rude/disinterested checkout people. So I was kind of shocked the last time I was there the checkout lady was actually nice. It was a shock to both me and my wife. But even mean people sometimes have their good days.

    But I wonder how the store is doing financially. TJ’s must be siphoning a large portion of its customers. Is the Key Food on Montague generally less crowded than before Trader Joes opened? The three times I’ve been at Key Food it has seemed less crowded, but I can’t determine if in general it has fewer shoppers than before.

    Bartmann

  • Heightsman

    Is it me or does anyone else think Trader Joes sucks? My wife and I both agree the place is weak and can’t understand the interest.

  • Ellen

    You are right, Montague resident. Next time I am out of milk and my kids are hungry, I will consider the horrible inconvenience my stroller causes people who should matter more to me than my kids. What’s the problem? So they’ll be hungry for a bit. At least you won’t be inconvenienced.

    What’s with the mom hate? It’s everywhere. When I am with my stroller, i just ASSUME people hate me these days.

    Personally, I find the cashiers at Key Food pretty nice. I think it’s a better store than Gristede’s. Garden of Eden though has the RUDEST most obnoxious cashiers i’ve ever encountered.

  • justaneighbor

    If you want rude cashiers, visit CVS on Henry Street. Oh my goodness, do these people take the cake.

  • tb

    I agree with the mom hate too. I try to be as polite as humanly possible but have been met with angry glares more times than I can count. The aisles are narrow, you cant turn around to get something you forgot and there is no room for people to line up for the slow checkout lanes. Last thing for all you stroller hatin’ shoppers.. the carts.. they are just strollers for food. Don’t go hating me because Im pushing something around that miserable place.

  • Remsen

    I guess the question is are there any establishments with good checkout people? The one thing that bugs me, besides being slow, is the general rudeness….not saying hi or when I say thankyou, there is no response. They are the ones that should be thanking me for shopping there. Is there a difference between the Key Food on Monty vs the one on Atlantic?

  • Hicks-ter

    New topic: Barney’s Coop coming to Atlantic: http://ny.racked.com/archives/2010/03/30/breaking_barneys_coop_is_coming_to_brooklyn.php

    p.s. Say what you want about Trader Joe (personally I love it), but the cashiers there are ultra-friendly. Also, I don’t get the Garden of Eden complaint — the women there have never been rude to me.

  • Norman E-Mailer

    what’s the difference between Barney’s Co-op and Barney’s? Will this be a Filene’s Basement sort of place?

  • Homer Fink

    Would it kill ya to do this link about Barneys
    http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/3630

  • Raisincat

    Be careful what you wish for…..Concord Market has now replaced the previous Associated Market on Jay & Tillary. Concord Market doesn’t stock essential items and is trying to be very gourmet. I’ve encountered days they had no white rice, no black beans and no olives under $8 a jar!! Frustrating.

  • marquise

    justaneighbor– I once witnessed a CVS cashier simultaneously listing to headphones, answering her cell, and bantering with a fellow employee, while ignoring a line of three customers. She was almost heroic in her incompetency.

    CVS rudeness is the stuff of legend.

  • T.K. Small

    I think that the problems at Key food start at the top. As a relatively visible person in a wheelchair, it is pretty difficult to ignore me. The managers rarely make eye contact and, on the odd occasion when they do, simply look right through me.

  • behrry good

    no one knows what the deal is with all the incessant church bells of late?

  • http://www.shootlikeagirlphotography.com Lauren

    As for good experiences with cashiers in the area, I’ve usually been pleased with the service at Perelandra on Remsen.

  • bornhere

    Jane — Although this is looking back quite a few years, I found Edna Pytlak (who was a friend and my second-string Ped, since my regular doc was in Manhattan) to be exceptional. She is now in practice on Monroe Place.

    bherry — It’s Holy Week. I LOVE the bells (although I hear them only in the evening after I get home from work), and I think I hear those only from OLL (I’m a block away). Maybe there’s a smattering from St. Charles, but I doubt it. You really get headaches from them?

  • Sonny

    I agree with everyone about Key Food – both locations, but especially Atlantic Ave. It is one of the most miserable places on earth and I try to avoid it at all costs. However, there are some items that you just need every once in a while, like a half dozen carton of eggs, that TJs doesn’t carry. So I cringe each time I go there and look at the nasty cashiers who carry on with their offensive and loud conversations to one another, shove my change at me or drop it on the counter and even eat while they’re checking me out. One time, she just up and left and never came back – with people standing in line! I don’t even expect a Hello at all – that would be too much to ask. I’ve addressed this with so-called “managers” there, but they are worse than the kids they employ. Sometimes for fun, my husband and I will carry on our own conversation – “hello, how are you, here’s your change, have a nice day…” – with one another. The cashiers don’t even realize we’re standing there. When I was a teenager and into college, which was only about 15 years ago, I worked at a local grocery store AND a CVS as my after-school and summer jobs. Sure, it’s not always easy dealing with customers all day, but our managers would kill us if we didn’t great each customer with a smile, say thank you and have a nice day and act pleasant. Boy, how times have changed…

  • tb

    Pediatricians: http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-reports/dr-edna-pytlak-md-c239a052
    She seems to be the most popular if you have the correct insurance. We see the docs at Heights Pediatrics, 145 Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
    (718) 858-4924 . They are good, if not very busy.

  • tb

    Today I was in Manhattan at an unnamed chain sandwich place and ALL the employees were happy. I asked one girl what was going on. She said “We have to be happy to so people will come back.”

  • Heights97

    I second the recommendation of Dr. Pytlak. She’s seen it all and knows how to talk to all types of kids and parents.

  • aliG

    I stopped going to Gristedes years ago and walked five blocks to Key and it’s not much better. Nobody says hello, nobody says thank you. One time my husband was waiting for the cashier to tell her to swipe and he was typing on his blackberry and she just stared at him. Holding up the line. I finally said to her, “Do you need something from him? If you do, you need to speak to him.” She started yelling at me.
    STrollers, I don’t mind them if there is a little room left for others to pass. What I don’t appreciate is when I need to get by and the stroller blocks the way and the “pusher” just blankly looks at you like he/she doesn’t know why you’re standing there, in front of them, doing nothing. And most of the time the stroller just has their groceries…no kid.

  • Heights97

    Maybe it’s from so many gray and rainy days in a row, but people seem even crankier than usual!

  • Nick

    I just noticed that DOH closed down Great Wall for operating without a permit. Too bad because I liked that place. Why is it so hard for restaurants in Brooklyn Heights to operate within DOH guidelines?

  • Monty

    We have been with Dr Pytlak for a while and she is great. She lives in Cobble Hill and let us bring our daughter to her house on a Sunday when she was in distress (she was fine).

    I don’t think Keyfood or CVS are that bad. Yes they are slower than they could be, but I always manage to get in and out. TJ’s on the other hand has the finest customer service of any grocery store I’ve ever been to. Always smiling, will restock items whenever you ask and proffer stickers for the kids.

    And I don’t think any of you really hate stroller moms so much as you hate inconsiderate people. A stroller (or a dog) is a force multiplier for an inconsiderate person. There is a huge concentration of strollers in this neighborhood and you probably don’t notice 90% of them because they watch where they are going. Just like the amount of dog shit on the sidewalk is generated by only 10% of the dogs.

  • The Huh?

    Great Wall also happens to have 58 violation points as of its inspection on 2/22/10. I think they have greater problems than just lack of certificate. Check out the DOH website for more info. You may not want to ever eat there again.

  • http://Nope Dumpster_Diving

    Fascati barely avoided a requisite inspection with its own 26 violations…
    http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=40366652&inspectionDate=20100120

  • http://Nope Dumpster_Diving

    …Which seems quaint next to Noodle Pudding’s WHOPPING 71 Violations??? How the hell are they not shut down???!!

    So GROSS…

    http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=40399751&inspectionDate=20100304

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