Don't worry I shall look into it personally. Review on Food World Stores, Bangalore

Gone those days are, when we used to see father going to pick up the vegetables daily morning. It used to be my full time-pass during my holidays or when I am visiting my grand-maa’s place. That was the time when I learnt to recognize various vegetables, green-leaf and of-course the fish.

But it is really tough to continue the same practice of picking up required stuff every day. May be it is due to the change in our life-style [shall I get ready for work or go out to pickup vegetable etc?] or we have become more lazy. We are affected with a new syndrome call – weekly shopping : ) Me being a normal human being – I found it difficult to carry the heavy bag with all ‘samaan’ in it around the market place [before I could complete picking all the ones in my list]. And then mushroomed the concept of Supermarket.

There are various players in market to provide ‘All that I need as household item’ under one roof. Food World aka Spencer’s was one of the early players in the market. One stop and I can pick up the grocery, vegetable, the frozen food item! Debs was maha thrilled. Oh, one hour a week and am done.

But the ‘healthy & hygienic’ queeda within Debs didn’t let her to be happy for long. I have the habit of looking for manufacturing date & expiry date for each & every product [I am happy that these days they provide the same for peeled vegetables & fruits too]. Milk in tetra packs was the product which made me to sharpen my instinct of looking into the date part. I picked up those packets in bulk and [trust me] each packet turned into split milk. It happened several time and I decided to pick up the milk packets from elsewhere.

One Friday evening, I visited one of the Food World near my place and noticed one gentleman shouting at counter for keeping expired baby food on shelf. Jezz … How could one! I heard the store manager pledging to ensure he would look into the matter personally. Personally??? Did he mean – ‘Assurance’ when he spoke about a personal involvement? Does that indicate he doesn’t get involved on any random checking procedure?

Well, I was thinking all ABZ in mind and reached the frozen food section. To my utter surprise I find ‘DEAD PRODUCTS’ in bulk, neatly kept in the freezer with temperature maintained as prescribed etc etc. Is it time to give a piece of mind to the gentleman – the ‘Store Manager’? ‘Could you please call your manager?’ Yes ma’am –  may I help, the person asked. No, I want to speak to the store manager. Five minutes wait [may be another customer issue handling time or a small break to gather energy for the next blast from another God I mean customer]. Thanx to my camera phone and a pat to my instinct.

I utilized the waiting time clicking those dead products. I picked up the hot dog packet & asked the manger to read the date of expiry for me. Oh, I am sorry. I’ll just get you a good one ma’am. And he is zapped. Cos whatever packet he picks up – all have crossed their expiry date. Then comes the real Manager blood in picture. Calling the other executives and scolding them in front of customer. But he could not answer a single word to my question of – why these packs remained unnoticed?

I agree, as customer - as buyers – it is upto us to check the date part etc, but does that indicate the store guys to sleep reluctantly? Now I have a feeling I might have missed noticing the expiry date of the milk packets & the split milk sequel happened.

There was days, when FW was the sole player and buyers didn’t have much option and was taken for granted. But today when we get to a supermarket at every corner, isn’t the competition to sustain is high? Is not customer expectation gone up and one really need to be sharp & polished to provide their best? Or is it an indication – I need to go back to my childhood days? And do what I have seen father/uncle doing – pick up things on a daily basis?

PS: Branch visited - Gandhi Bazar