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Not a customer, but a man who walked into the store.
Background:
I work on my family's farm that raises all natural, pasture-raised chicken, pork, turkey, and duck. Recently, I had also gotten a job at Hippy Store, where the farm supplies to. Now, the fear of that being a conflict of interest has come up, but they didn't think it would be an issue.
One of our hottest selling items is our Super Eggs. Shells browner than a speeding bullet, more omega-3s than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (once)!
The store does carry eggs from other farms as well. I won't go into the differences, but I will say that we have enough customers to sell what we each bring to the egg shelf.
Now onto the story. This was relayed to me by a manager.
One day, a man walked into the store. He walked over to the egg section and looked over the three different signs, seeing what each brand has to offer. Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he gives a tiny nod before walking back up to the front of the store to the person behind the counter.
"Hello, can I speak with the person in charge?" he says.
One of the managers comes out from the office, ears burning at the mention of her position. She greets the man and they exchange pleasantries before she asks how she can help him.
As it turns out, the man is a farmer! An egg farmer at that. He wants to know what it takes to get his product on the shelves.
The two of them get to talking about the specific details. How are the chickens raised, the quality of the egg, price, etc. As I've said, there's more than enough customers for the three brands we stock already. Whether or not previous obligations prevent them from putting another onto the shelves, I don't know, but doesn't hurt to keep this guy's info just in case. Things are going smoothly enough. Until the manager reaches an important question, one that can single-handedly break the deal if answered incorrectly.
"Do you give your chickens any kind of GMO feed?"
For those of you who aren't aware, GMO stands for 'Genetically Modified Organism'. An artificially engineered crop or meat made for reasons including resistance to chemical insecticides and herbicides. Now, I've seen heated debates over the health concerns and environmental impact of GMOs get sparked by the simple mention, so I'm just going to say this: the Hippy Store doesn't like them.
Seriously. We really don't like them.
It might as well stand for "GET MOTHER-LOVING OUT!" Any product we find using GMOs on our shelves are taken into the back alley where they are 'mysteriously discontinued'. Whether meat, plant, snack, make-up, or otherwise, you come 100% naturally or not at all.
So that's one of the biggest questions we ask. His response to it?
"Well, I'll admit it, I do."
Okay, yeah, that's a problem. Thank you for coming all this way, but I'm afraid we have to ask you to-
"But any other farmer that tells you they don't is lying!"
...
Now, I'll be honest, I'm human. If you insult me, I get offended. If you call me a liar, I get offended. I try not to act on it and go about my day, but it's a very human response.
But when you insult and accuse me, my family, my coworkers who stock them, the cashiers that ring them up, the managers that write the checks for them, the store with their advertisements, the awesome people from the other farms I've met, and the customers that would defend their favorite brands in a blazing display of defiance against what is rule number one of any product in our store?
Needless to say, we will not be stocking his eggs.
Buddy, come on down to our farm. I'll pour myself a bowl of what we feed our chickens and eat it like dry cereal. Until you can claim that, I don't think you'll be getting into the Hippy Store.
Background:
I work on my family's farm that raises all natural, pasture-raised chicken, pork, turkey, and duck. Recently, I had also gotten a job at Hippy Store, where the farm supplies to. Now, the fear of that being a conflict of interest has come up, but they didn't think it would be an issue.
One of our hottest selling items is our Super Eggs. Shells browner than a speeding bullet, more omega-3s than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (once)!
The store does carry eggs from other farms as well. I won't go into the differences, but I will say that we have enough customers to sell what we each bring to the egg shelf.
Now onto the story. This was relayed to me by a manager.
One day, a man walked into the store. He walked over to the egg section and looked over the three different signs, seeing what each brand has to offer. Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he gives a tiny nod before walking back up to the front of the store to the person behind the counter.
"Hello, can I speak with the person in charge?" he says.
One of the managers comes out from the office, ears burning at the mention of her position. She greets the man and they exchange pleasantries before she asks how she can help him.
As it turns out, the man is a farmer! An egg farmer at that. He wants to know what it takes to get his product on the shelves.
The two of them get to talking about the specific details. How are the chickens raised, the quality of the egg, price, etc. As I've said, there's more than enough customers for the three brands we stock already. Whether or not previous obligations prevent them from putting another onto the shelves, I don't know, but doesn't hurt to keep this guy's info just in case. Things are going smoothly enough. Until the manager reaches an important question, one that can single-handedly break the deal if answered incorrectly.
"Do you give your chickens any kind of GMO feed?"
For those of you who aren't aware, GMO stands for 'Genetically Modified Organism'. An artificially engineered crop or meat made for reasons including resistance to chemical insecticides and herbicides. Now, I've seen heated debates over the health concerns and environmental impact of GMOs get sparked by the simple mention, so I'm just going to say this: the Hippy Store doesn't like them.
Seriously. We really don't like them.
It might as well stand for "GET MOTHER-LOVING OUT!" Any product we find using GMOs on our shelves are taken into the back alley where they are 'mysteriously discontinued'. Whether meat, plant, snack, make-up, or otherwise, you come 100% naturally or not at all.
So that's one of the biggest questions we ask. His response to it?
"Well, I'll admit it, I do."
Okay, yeah, that's a problem. Thank you for coming all this way, but I'm afraid we have to ask you to-
"But any other farmer that tells you they don't is lying!"
...
Now, I'll be honest, I'm human. If you insult me, I get offended. If you call me a liar, I get offended. I try not to act on it and go about my day, but it's a very human response.
But when you insult and accuse me, my family, my coworkers who stock them, the cashiers that ring them up, the managers that write the checks for them, the store with their advertisements, the awesome people from the other farms I've met, and the customers that would defend their favorite brands in a blazing display of defiance against what is rule number one of any product in our store?
Needless to say, we will not be stocking his eggs.
Buddy, come on down to our farm. I'll pour myself a bowl of what we feed our chickens and eat it like dry cereal. Until you can claim that, I don't think you'll be getting into the Hippy Store.
Here's Miss Red sporting hers. I thought it made her look like Jiggley-Puff.
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