I did that once at one of the local Kroger stores in Cincinnati
the manager called the produce guy and told him to take care of it (it was a container of strawberries that were rotten on the bottom when I got them home). The produce guy actually accused me of buying them somewhere else (then why wouldn't I have gone there if I was taking the time to return them?), threw a hissy fit, and called me a liar. I had to go back to the manger to ask him if this was the store's idea of customer service.
Needless to say, I haven't shopped Kroger's in quite a few years.
I bought two different kinds of peaches over the weekend,one labled southern, the others were from California, they are dry mealy tasteless and worthless. They have shrivled up into prunes after 3 days of sitting on the counter, completely inedible.
I can't even buy avocados at the store anymore because they have been so badly mauled (both by process to market and customers who think pushing their fat thumbs into them is a required pre-buying ritual).
The market I shop at most has decided that it's easier for them to shove the Romaine into tight bags, bruising, crushing, and breaking the leaves, rather than tolerate the customers who strip a couple leaves off that have been damaged from the loose piles they used to have. Now, the lettuce is so badly bruised that it begins rotting as soon as I bring it home. I've contacted the manager of the store and was greeted with an oh well, there's nothing I can do about it attitude.
And don't you love it when the store moves things around and you can't find the items you normally buy? My market moved Tahina, I buy it by the quart. I go to the service desk to ask for it, the 18yo at the counter couldn't care less, and just replied, "we don't carry that." Well, yes you do. I finally tracked a manager down, told her what happened, she took me to two different places in the store where they stock Tahina (go figure) and went to go give a lecture to the 18yo. At least that was encouraging.
The farmer's markets have nearly become a cliched joke. All of it outrageously priced. They're all about people now selling soaps, cosmetics, home-baked goodies, and other non-vegetables that one expects at a farmer's market, plus most of the produce that is there has been purchased at produce warehouses and is no different from a grocery store. It's especially telling when they're selling produce out of season (hello, tomatoes do not ripen in quantity to sell in southern Ohio until mid-July. Also kiwis, bananas, avocados and the like are not commercial crops in southern ohio--but there's always a couple stands there with them).
I've nearly given up on farmer's markets and try to grow what I need on my own.
/rant over
