This two-star-AT-BEST experience included an employee who had the audacity to mention religion. So you know I had to get on here.
Long story short, after getting all our groceries, we chose the closest checkout lane to us that wasn't express, unloaded our cart, and waited our turn. I was organizing our items on the conveyor belt (snacks last so I can keep an eye those bad boys) and making sure I put a border bar after them and my reusable bags in front of all of our stuff - including two reusable HEB bags 'cause we're loyal like that.
The cashier, Nicholaus M, and his bagger were finishing up with the customer before us, sending them off with a friendly goodbye and thank you. Then everything got silent....except for the quiet-ish greeting from my son.
My son doesn't work at HEB though. We were doing our shopping together. Neither the checker nor the bagger greeted me nor did they return my son's greeting.
The cashier and his bagger did their job on our groceries while having an animated conversation with each other. They were clearly buds, but they were 100% going out of their way to say nothing to us or even make eye contact.
Nowadays, this lack of comportement from employees at this "level" doesn't phase me, regardless of what the employee looks like. I come from a different generation, and when I had similar jobs I did them with more respect for myself and for my employer. Period.
But the obviously adopted blaccent coming out of these two HEB employees' mouths, while they chose to ignore at least one person in this transaction who was no doubt of Sub-Saharan African descent--namely me--just has to be part of this Yelp. I'm surprised they didn't throw in some Tejano Spanglish along with their African American Vernacular English, just to dig a knife into my Blaxican son. No love for La Raza, I guess.
It gets worse though. I mean, seriously I wanted to run for cover from the lightening bolt I thought was going to come from sky.
The bagger started talking about Eid to his cashier buddy. E-I-D. Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan which is expected to be celebrated at the end of this month. The bagger was going on about how excited he was for all the feasting he was about to do, AND HE SAID ALL OF IT IN SPOT-ON BLACCENT.
Uh-unh Booboo. I mean, he didn't get into how "screamin'", "bussin'" or "fire" that spread was "'bout to be" at Eid. But still....
You mean to tell me, with all that blaccent coming out of that bagger's mouth, he thought it was appropriate to mention religion while dissing customers of color right in front of him? One of whom just so happens to be a dark-skinned African American--of Texan heritage, thank you very much? How is that living in peace according to any religion's tenets, except maybe satanism?
And then at the end of the transaction the bagger kinda-sorta shoved my remaining usable bags in our cart without a thank you or a goodbye or anything. What a caracicature of Black urbanity.
His "homie" at the cash register was no better. All he said loudly enough during the entire transaction was my grocery total, a "here you go" when he handed me my receipt - followed by NO RESPONSE to my thank you after I gently took it from him - and then he muttered something under his breath that kinda-sorta sounded like a "have a good day". But seriously he might as well have had a hand over his mouth it was so inaudible; I might've even been imagining things.
Never again at this HEB. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery, but not like what my son and I experienced.
Aight, I'm out then. Be easy, HEB-Westheimer/Kirkwood. read more