Whole Foods Should Be Ashamed

I spent election night 2020 with my daughter at her apartment in Washington, DC.  It’s become a tradition with us, spending election night in front of the television, following the races closely and watching the results.  It’s not unusual for us to stay up until dawn on election nights as we watch our democratic process at work.

We make it fun and we prepare in advance by shopping for all the foods and drinks we like and that always includes a charcuterie board filled with meats, cheeses, olives, berries… it’s really quite decadent, but we do it as part of our election night festivities.  And we drink wine… red wine… good red wine.

For the 2020 election, we shopped at Trader Joes and Whole Foods.  Trader Joes went fine.  Whole Foods didn’t.  In fact, what happened at Whole Foods this past November 3^rd was awful… and I feel compelled to write about it.

So, we were shopping at Whole Foods on H Street in Washington DC on the afternoon of November 3^rd, 2020…

I noticed a guy walking the aisles looking, but not buying anything.  He happened to be African American in terms of his ethnicity.  I’d like to say that his race didn’t matter, but I just don’t think that’s the case.

And, I will tell you that he wasn’t dressed well.  Not that he was dressed terribly by any means, but let’s just say that he wasn’t dressed like other Whole Foods’ patrons were.  He was friendly and he and I exchanged “what’s up” glances as we passed each other at different points while walking the aisles. 

After he had walked up and down several aisles and stood by the counters where prepared foods are sold, and as I headed to the register to over-pay Jeff Bezos for my groceries, I saw that the store’s manager, along with a security guard, had corralled him to the front desk and were telling him to take off his jacket and sweatshirt.  It was obvious that they were accusing him of shoplifting and were intent on searching him.

I watched and listened, as I checked out, and could hear him politely protesting the treatment he was receiving.  He was trying to tell them that he wasn’t there to steal anything… he was trying to find something he could buy to eat that cost $3.45.  That was all the money he had… he was hungry… and he had found that there wasn’t much he could buy that would fit within his budget. 

That’s why he was walking around the store.  He was looking for something he could afford… and he explained again that he wasn’t there to steal anything.  He didn’t want any trouble.  He wanted a sandwich… or a piece of pizza.  As long as it cost less than $3.45.

The Whole Foods manager and the security guard weren’t convinced.  They made him take off his jacket and his sweatshirt and proceeded to search him, as if they had seen him take something, even though they had not.  The search concluded and he had nothing on him.

I watched the entire thing.  When the search was over, the manager told him he’d have to leave the store.  Apparently, Whole Foods didn’t want his business.  They wanted him out… and so he said okay… and he was about to leave the store when I walked over to the desk where they had searched him in front of the other Whole Foods patrons. 

I walked over and asked what was going on.  The manager was immediately very nice to me; much nicer than he had been to the shopper he had just searched.  He sized up my daughter and I, realizing that we were Whole Foods shoppers and perhaps he knew that if he didn’t treat us well, we were capable of causing problems.

The black guy told me his situation.  He only had $3.45 and he was hoping that he could find something to eat that cost that amount or less.  He walked around the store and was having trouble finding anything he could afford to buy.

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I was angry at the store manager for treating the guy the way he had… publicly making him disrobe and then searching him as others walked by trying not to make eye contact.  I wondered if what the manager did was even legal.  I mean, I wasn’t sure that grocery store managers had the right to demand that anyone be strip searched.  I wondered about concepts like “probable cause,” and why the manager hadn’t called a police officer to handle things.

It bothered me… a lot.  So, with the manager standing right there, being oh-so-polite to me and my daughter, I asked the guy what he wanted to eat.  He said… nothing… that there was nothing he could afford.  I told him that I was buying… and I glared at the manager, daring him to try to stop me from buying the guy whatever he wanted.

He wanted a piece of pizza, something he said he could afford, but the manager had stopped him from buying.  So, since the manager wouldn’t let him remain in the store, I went to the pizza stand and bought him two pieces of pizza.  I also bought him a large sandwich, some chips and some pasta salad.  Oh, and I bought him a cherry Coke, which is what he wanted to drink.  I paid for the food and took it outside to give it to him… and we spoke for a few minutes standing there on H Street in Washington DC… on election night.

I really liked him.  He seemed like a really nice and compassionate guy.  He wasn’t even angry at the Whole Foods manager… he understood.  He told me that he hadn’t been to Whole Foods before, but had heard that the food was good so he thought he’d give it a try… and after walking around, he knew he shouldn’t be there.

I hated that answer.  Anyone in this country has every right to visit Whole Foods whether they plan on buying anything or not.  It’s Whole Foods… a too-expensive grocery store… it’s not a private club or anything close.  We talked for 5-10 minutes and he thanked me over and over for helping him and for buying him something to eat.  I told him that it was nothing… because it was nothing.

I would have spent more time talking to him, but election night was fast approaching and my daughter and I had plans.  But, as she and I walked back to her apartment, I couldn’t stop tears from rolling down my cheeks.  What I had witnessed, was awful… unfair… and mean.  And, as I said, I wasn’t even sure that it was legal.  That manager didn’t just try to catch a shoplifter, he publicly humiliated him… and he found nothing.

I would have liked to do more, would have liked to go talk to that Whole Foods manager, to tell him how awful he had been and how I, as a Whole Foods shopper, was deeply offended by what he’d done.  But, I couldn’t get there the next day, having stayed up most of the night, and after that I was headed back home, as we all awaited the results.

It’s been about three months since that afternoon in Whole Foods, and I haven’t been able to shake it.  It was wrong.  And I have to say something about it.

Let’s get a few things straight…

First of all, Whole Foods is just a grocery store… and it’s not even a particularly great grocery store.  I bought a case of Three Wishes red wine there one year… because it was decent and only cost $2.99 a bottle.  That’s not a country club price.  An entire case was less than $40.

Also, Whole Foods is not “exclusive,” it’s expensive.  Anyone with enough dough or a credit card with a few bucks available is welcome to shop there… aren’t they?  Or, maybe if they have dark skin and are wearing old sweats, they better make their purchase quickly to avoid being strip searched?

Today, thank God, I can afford to shop at Whole Foods when I want to, but that wasn’t always the case.  Far from it.  When I was young, I went through years when buying anything at Whole Foods would have been out of the question.  Those were days when I learned that a can of tuna, box of mac and cheese and whatever veggies were around could be combined into something we called “Calamity Casserole.”

I can remember some days when lunch consisted of a mustard sandwich, because that was all there was to eat in the apartment.  Back then, I can remember making my car payment quarterly, only days before it would have been repossessed. I slept on the floor until someone gave me an old mattress… and I rarely paid my rent on time.

I can remember going to a bar, sitting at a table… telling the waitress or waiter that I was waiting for friends to show up… and stealing all the peanuts I could steal, pouring them into my pockets and living on them for days afterwards.  I can remember buying day-old donuts for $1 and living on those as well.  Once, I was so hungry that had two nice lesbians not found me in a laundromat, bought me dinner and let me sleep on their couch, I might have perished.

Do you know what it’s like not to eat for three days?  I do.

I hitchhiked around New England until it got too cold to sleep outside.  I found jobs at summer camps because although summer camp jobs didn’t pay much, they did let you eat meals with the campers.  Then, something would happen, like I’d get fired for drinking beer on the archery field late at night or because I got caught making out with the camp director’s daughter… and then I’d be back on the road with no money or prospects.

Let me tell you about not eating.  On day one, you’re just hungry.  On day two, you get anxious over the hunger.  By day three, all you do is search for food.  And by day four, it wouldn’t surprise me if you considered mugging a little old lady if it means you get to eat.  Thankfully, I only went to day three, but I think I know what it would feel like on the fourth day.

When that summer ended, I joined the Air Force…

When I arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, a drill instructor was yelling at all of us… and he asked if anyone had any questions.  I was the only one to raise my hand.  “When do we eat?” was all I wanted to know.  When I was asked why I joined, I replied, “because I was hungry.”

The next morning at the chow hall, I not only devoured what was on my plate, but I offered to finish whatever others didn’t want.  Others complained about the food.  I never did.

Luckily, and with hard work, I managed to find a career in my life.  I figured out how to go back to school… and how to turn my education and my desire to succeed into dollars.  I had a mentor.  Without him, who knows where I would have ended up.

I wasn’t that different from the black guy I met at Whole Foods this past election night in Washington DC, although I’m sure that my daughter and others would think differently about that.  Of course, I was always “a white guy,” although increasingly, I hate being referred to that way.  My skin isn’t dark, but it’s not white either.

I do have what they call “white privilege,” though… there’s no question about that.  And that “privilege” means that I’ll probably never be strip searched at Whole Foods… or anywhere else, for that matter… whether I buy anything or not.  That’s great for me, but it sucks for those whose skin color doesn’t convey any sort of privilege.

Maybe the same thing would have happened to a white guy who wasn’t dressed well, I really don’t know.

Regardless, Whole Foods should be ashamed at how its manager on H Street in Washington DC treated that shopper on election night 2020.  Deeply ashamed.  Jeff Bezos owns Whole Foods.  I saw recently that his ex-wife DONATED billions of dollars to help fight COVID-19.  Would it really hurt Jeff to give someone a piece of pizza… or two?  Especially after falsely accusing someone of shoplifting?  I would think that’s the least Jeff, or his employee, could have done.

WHOLE FOODS HAS NO RIGHT TO STRIP SEARCH ANYONE EVER. NO RIGHT TO MAKE ANYONE FEEL EXCLUDED… EVER.  AND ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO HUMILIATE ANOTHER HUMAN BEING BY CALLING HIM A SHOPLIFTER IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE STORE… WHEN HE WASN’T… BUT EVEN IF HE WAS.

We need to remember that there but for the grace of God go us all. 

Life’s hard for all of us.  At times we’re on top of the world… and other times we bump off the bottom.  It’s not always anyone’s fault.  Sometimes it just is what it is.

I grew up with educated parents.  I’m sure the guy I met that night at Whole Foods wasn’t so lucky.  What should he do, living on the streets of Washington DC?  Get a job as a lobbyist or a waiter at some swanky restaurant?  Somehow, I don’t think those options are open to him.  So, he’s trying to survive… and if you think you’re better than him… you’re not. 

What you mostly are… is luckier.

Shame on Whole Foods for allowing that to have happened.  I don’t think of them the same way, and I never will.  Will Bezos care?  Probably not.  But, he should.  Not because of the money of mine that he won’t be receiving, but because Whole Foods did something awful that day, something they can’t take back.  They hurt another human being who didn’t deserve anything but a little compassion.

What can I do about it?  Well, one thing I can do is ask you to share this post.  The other thing that comes to mind is to ask you to practice random acts of kindness when faced with someone not as fortunate and who needs to know that people do care. 

That’s what we need more of in this country and around the world… perhaps now, more than ever.  What we don’t need is more of what I witnessed that November afternoon at Whole Foods in Washington DC.

Mandelman out.

Whole Foods Customer Service Phone #: 1-844-936-8255