Whole Foods Stories

This post's work stories are about TMAG, kayak races, ducklings, pussywillows, produce prostitutes, TMotM. OK... here we go!

TMAG
Earlier this month, my store had its yearly TMAG elections. TMAG stands for Team Member Awareness Group, and it's kinda like a union. Each department votes for their TMAG rep and this group of chosen ones meets monthly to talk about issues, thoughts, and ideas their co-workers have. I thought this sounded like fun, so I told my Team Leader that I wanted to do it. However, my co-worker Maieka wanted to be the rep too, so we had to campaign for the position. Uggg... so high school. Last week at our store meeting, the results of the elections were announced, and I won! After the meeting, all the TMAG reps had a mini meeting with our Store Team Leader. He told us that we need a Store TMAG rep and that we would have to campaign for that. Once again, I thought it would be fun, so I put my name down. I've been talking to my work friends from around the store and asking them to vote for me. Next Wednesday at our first official TMAG meeting, I'll find out if I won.

Kayak Races
The RPB Art Festival was last month and our store participated in the Corporate Kayak Race! Six people signed up to race: Me, Rachel (Customer Service!), Paul and Josh (Meat), Steve (Specialty), and Lauren (Marketing). The store gave me money so I could make t-shirts. I love how easy iron-on lettering is! We got to the lake early so we could practice, and it became apparent that I've never kayaked before. I have like negative upper body and arm strength. Since we really wanted to win, I decided to sit out and be a cheerleader. The race was relay-style, so two people got in the kayak, raced to the middle of the lake, paddled around the fountain, raced back to land, and jumped out so the next two people could jump in. There were 12 teams, so 2 groups of 6. With each group, 2 teams went head-to-head, with the 3 winning teams racing for a spot in the final race. Team Whole Foods totally kicked ass our first time out so we were so totally confident! When we raced with the other 2 winners, we were sabotaged! One team blocked us as we were trying to get around the fountain, and the other got in our way as we tried to switch team members. We ended up coming in third. All of us we pissed! Maybe next year...

Ducklings
I train just about all the new cashiers! I get them for 2-3 days before they get to be on their own. When I'm training, my work friends from all over will call me "momma duck" and the new guys are referred to as my ducklings. (You know, because whenever you see a momma duck, all her baby ducks are following behind her and going where she goes) When I'm training, that new person goes where I go and is like my shadow for those 2 or 3 days. It's fun training a new person and teaching them and quizzing them and hazing them. Oh yes, we haze at Whole Foods! We make my ducklings do trash and collect carts outside and all the stuff we don't really like doing. Nothing bad of course! I love being a momma duck!

Pussywillows
You know what pussywillows look like, right? Just google it. We sell pussywillows, and those fuzzy little things always fall off. When I see them, I pick them up and play with them. They are so amazingly soft! I feel like Lennie from "Of Mice and Men", petting this soft thing. One of my closest work friends, Bre, knows how dorky I get with he stupid pussywillows, so on my birthday, she gave me a bag of them! So, sitting on my desk in my room, is a bag of like 4 dozen pussywillow fuzzyballs. Soft.

Produce Prostitute
My work friends call me a produce prostitute. It's because I will flirt with the produce guys and they'll bring me fruit. I know this sounds really bad, but it's not. They all know about Chris, and they have their own girlfriends. It's just a fun game we play to pass the time. Bre's brother Anthony works in produce, but he once worked as a cashier (he was one of my first ducklings!). We flirt in front of Bre because we love how uncomfortable she gets. We call each other pet names and talk about fake dates we went on. It's fun. Then there's Brandon. He's really nice. When I go on my 15-minute break, he'll get me a cold apple from the back cooler and cut it for me. When he come to me for price checks, and I come closer to guessing the right price, he'll bring me a mango or pear. Everyone is jealous because he doesn't bring them fruit! One afternoon he let me come in the back where he and some other produce guys were making chocolate-covered strawberries!! Having friends in produce is like the best-kept Whole Foods secret!

TMotM
Guess who was the Front End Team Member of the Month... me! That's right! Haha! It was announced at the store meeting. All the department Team Leaders took turns talking about the new stuff going on in their departments and calling out the TMotM. My Team Leader got up there and talked and started saying, "Our Team Member of the Month is a really smart, intelligent girl", and I turned to my friends I was sitting with and said, "Well, it's not me". And then Jennifer said my name and everyone started laughing. That was when she said that I was the TMAG winner too, so it was a fun morning for me.

That's all the stories I got for now!