Trader Joe's

I used to love the Trader Joe's location in North Hill's Pittsburgh. However, on April 9, I went in to shop after getting my second covid vaccine.

Between the lines to get in, unique to Trader Joe's at the moment and not in place at any other grocery chain, and the restrictions at the check-out, I felt like my girlfriend and I were being treated like livestock. I said so, and called the restrictions arbitrary and silly, to a clerk. This was after being ordered, not asked but ordered, to stand back on the red square and only come forward to pay when summoned.

At the moment one of the managers stormed out of the office to berate me about how their rules were in place to protect people. I didn't believe her; this is COVID theater, and excessive. She got belligerent. I didn't keep my voice level and quiet, and for me uncharacteristically free of profanity, so quiet in fact my girlfriend, right next to me, never heard a word. She only knew when she asked me about the event, and I answered in the parking lot.

The manager told me that they were following government guidance, and not to question corporate policy. Along with the efficacy of the policy, I questioned the competence of said Democratic government, and she demanded that I not speak about politics in front of her employees. Mind you, I'm a political science professor, who teaches COVID and healthcare policy. At this point, still quiet, I will admit that I told her to go to hell.

These were the magic word. I was allowed, grudgingly, to complete my purchase, and told to never come back again. If I did, I would be asked to leave. If I ever returned I would be asked to leave.

Never again do I want to spend another dime at Trader Joe's, at any of their locations. Compounding it, I did send a complaint the next morning to their corporate office, which has been responded to with complete and utter silence. No doubt it went into somebody's trash, and is getting all the attention that I would expect.