Frustrated with long lines at the supermarket? You can complain under your breath as you bide your time reading the tabloids,or, like Shaw resident James Carter, you can act.
Carter, 27, a regular shopper at the Giant Food at Eighth and O streets Northwest, drafted a petition to “help make a more convincing case that Giant needs to schedule more cashiers and to improve their stocking process.” He waited outside the store for two hours in early December — across the street to avoid a loitering charge — collecting 135 signatures of similarly frustrated consumers.
Carter then met with a Giant executive to lay out his case, a conference that closed with promises of reform.
His plodding seems to have paid off. Barry Scher, the chain’s vice president of public affairs, pledged progress: more efficient scheduling of front-end cashiers and fresh store leadership, including a new customer service manager and a new front-end manager.
“People have been complaining since the end of time,” said Carter, “It’s habitual.”
The pow-wow between Scher and Carter took place Dec. 6 at the store’s customer service desk. In a Dec. 19 e-mail to Carter, Scher said the company is doing “all we can to solve the prior problems that you and others experienced at the front end.”
“Tom Smith, the District Manager, has instructed the store staff to overschedule a minimum of two checkers each night between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. to get us through the evening rush hours and combat the anticipated sick calls,” Scher wrote. “By bringing in a new and committed management team, we hope to minimize the poor services issues that you and I discussed in detail.”
Giant should want to improve its Shaw location, Carter said, as other shopping options become available nearby, notably a new Safeway at Fifth and K Streets NW or the Whole Foods at 14th and P streets NW. Scher’s promises, Carter said, at least represent progress.
