Attention FRED MEYER!!!

We do most of our grocery shopping at our local Fred Meyer.

It's close to our house, they have a large variety of groceries as well as a ton of 'stuff' from shower curtains to video games to calendars and shampoo and earplugs and printer ink.

It's not a bad place to shop except for one thing.
Well, several things but they're all the same thing.

It's almighty loud in there, especially this time of year. The Salvation Army has stationed bell ringers in the entryway, and it's vast and echo-y.

I have made my feelings about the bell ringers (who must espouse the beliefs of the Salvation Army) eminently clear, anyone who takes a stand against consenting adults being allowed to love is an asshole in my book.
Period.

Even if it's against your belief system, it's still none of your business personally, and you should be worrying about your own life, not worried about what's in someone's pants and who's allowed to touch it or who should be 'allowed' to be in love.

So I don't care how worthy the Salvation Army's 'cause' is (what they're doing is fundraising... and not all of that goes to people who need help, either) I resent them being in my face and I hate hate hate the noise of the bells.

Also in the entryway? A loudspeaker that goes off CONSTANTLY, (paraphrasing here) ' BEEEEEEEP We're sorry for the inconvenience, please return to the nearest checkout for assistance'.

Yes, it's the ripoff alert. Whether everyone who sets it off is a thief or the clerk forgot to run it over the deactivator, the result is the same. More noise.

And since that poor sap who worked for Freddy's security department got his ear hacked off by a hatchet while attempting to stop a shoplifter last year, Freddy's doesn't stop ANYONE who's shoplifting.

If you can carry it out the door, it's yours. This is common knowledge among thieves since it's been on the news for ages, and they take full advantage of it.

The only people who stop and go back in are those who haven't ripped anything off. The honest ones.

And I admit that it's gone off when I've exited the store a few times, but since I haven't stolen anything, I don't even bother slowing down. I can't figure out why they even bother with the anti theft devices and electronic monitoring anymore.

::shrug::

But it's another layer of noise.

Now add in the regular noises laughing, crying, screeching (and that's just the adults) and then kid noises... it's starting to get pretty loud and really we haven't even started shopping yet!

We also need to add 'music' although usually their chosen selections would not be considered music. Too many people warbling and howling and squealing and growling their way through songs to be thought of as musical. When I am shopping alone, I use my MP3 player and tune it all out but when I'm with Eric, I leave it off and focus on spending time with him. It *is* our weekly date, after all.

The Freddy employees seem unclear on the concept that the intercom is electric. This means that one does not have to shout into the phone. Because of the miracle of modern electronics, you can use a normal speaking voice and just... talk. But evidently they didn't get the memo.

So every time they make an announcement, it's ear-shreddingly loud.

Eric has started shouting back at them. It makes me laugh so hard I about wet my pants, actually. While we were checking out today, I wandered off to look at pens and ink refills, and one of the Freddy people made an annoyingly loud announcement.

From about eight aisles away, I could hear my husband bellow, "OKAY!!! THANK YOU!!!!"

The man cracks me up. I know I should be embarrassed or something, but I just find it humorous. Technically he's adding to the noise, I suppose, but I have great appreciation for him all the same.

Do you think that if I were to forward this to Freddy's they'd care? I mean, it's not making me shop elsewhere, they're still getting so much of my money I ought to just have my paycheck direct deposited, and I know I'm helping support them...  but it would be so nice to have a quiet shopping experience.

Our local Target sets a good example of that. Maybe I should suggest that they send their bigwigs over there to see how it's done.