Mrs. HM : Short-Fished & Rubbed The Wrong Way

Friday afternoon, I stopped by Country Mart to pick up a fish dinner for Farmer H. I was going to get it for him a couple weeks ago, but he had fish at the Senior Center that day for lunch. He's taken to dropping in there for a $3 meal when he's in town working on Pony House. THIS TIME, he said he saw the menu, and the Senior Center was having fried chicken on Friday. Which is what I'd intended to get for him at the deli. So he switched his supper to fish, with sides of green beans and mashed potatoes with brown gravy.

My two favorite deli workers were nowhere in sight. The lady who makes the pinwheels correctly, and the dude who is so friendly and worried about me upon hearing of my Unfortunate HospitVALzation. Both of them always look out for me, giving me an extra piece if the leftovers in the bin are small, and advising me that asking for the gravy to be SEPARATE will give me more mashed potatoes!

Anyhoo... they must have been off, because the gal who came to wait on me was the Young Trainee I saw last week. Also, that dark-haired manager woman was lurking in the background. I do not like her! You know how some people just rub you the wrong way? That's HER! The first time I ever saw her was when I was standing at the cold counter, looking at the prepared salads, and she was standing at the opening in the counter that acts as a door, gossiping with another worker. She had the nerve to stop talking, stare at me, and say, "Yes?" Sweet Gummi Mary! I was a CUSTOMER, by cracky, looking over the merchandise! I wanted nothing from her! It's not my fault she was airing her dirty laundry right there in a place of business!

 

Anyhoo... I felt bad for Farmer H. The fish looked terrible! Normally, they are about 6-8 inches long. These were maybe 4 inches. Thin and twisted. Only five in the whole bin. But Farmer H had wished for fish, and fish he would get.

 

"I'd like a fish dinner. Three pieces. I know they come as a two-piece, and I'll have to pay extra for the third. Also, I'd like green beans, and mashed potatoes with brown gravy as the sides."

 

Young Trainee got the styrofoam container. She tonged out two pieces of fish. Then asked again about the sides.

 

"Oh. I wanted three pieces of fish."

 

"I know."

 

"But you only put in two."

 

"I have to do the other one separate."

 

"Huh. Everyone else just puts it in the same container."

 

"It's sold by the pound. So I'll have to weigh it."

 

That was news to me. They usually charged by the piece. But I saw Dark-Haired Manager Woman moseying up front. So I let it go. I didn't need her two cents.

 

"Doesn't it come with hush puppies?"

 

"Oh, yeah. They're over here in the separate bin."

 

Young Trainee put in 3 hush puppies. Their diameter is less than a quarter. Usually, they give 2 hush puppies per fish. She put in the green beans and mashed potatoes, then put another piece of fish in a paper sack, and went to weigh it. The price was $1.50. I could not even tell anything was in that bag when I lifted it! Apparently, the dinner is $9.99. They list it as '1 pound at $9.99 a pound.' But the single piece of fish was 0.10 pound at $14.99 a pound!

 

 

I did not know all this until I was back in T-Hoe, perusing the receipt. That made me spittin' mad! It would be different if it was the GOOD fish! 

Anyhoo... I kind of got back at them without knowing it. I asked if they had enough chicken in the bin for an 8-piece. I could see what looked like around 8 pieces, but I didn't see the proper combo of cuts. It should come with 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 2 wings. You might recall that the last time I was there, they promised me an 8-piece if I waited 20 minutes for it to cook, and when I came back in, they had given it to somebody else. That gosh-darn Black-Haired Manager Woman had a hand in that!

Anyhoo... I could tell by the look on Young Trainee that she did NOT want to give me that chicken. But she said, as unenthusiastically as you can imagine: "It looks like we have JUST enough." She tonged it into a box for me. Heh, heh! When I got it home, I saw that I had 5 large breasts, 1 leg, and 2 wings. She'd made sure to give me the very worst wings, all emaciated, and mostly batter. But I had 5 GIANT BREASTS! I'm sure they were saving those for someone. Perhaps themselves! The only chicken left in that bin was 2 other wings.

Young Trainee made a show of telling Dark-Haired Manager Woman: "I'm going to have to fry more chicken."

What in the NOT HEAVEN? It was 4:30 on a Friday night! I guarantee you that I was not the last person coming into that store to pick up chicken! Perhaps they might try to cut off cooking around 6:00 or 6:30. But certainly not at 4:30!

 

Oh, and she didn't even give me the roll that's supposed to come with a dinner!

If the GOOD deli workers had been on duty, they would have given me all the fish, because they were so small. More hush puppies. Plus, they would likely have tossed in those 2 other chicken wings, because they didn't have the right combo of pieces to give me. They would have been mortified to forget the roll!

Customer service is hit-and-miss at this place!