Former employee here to lay down some hard truths. I worked there 6.5 years, between four and six days a week if needed. I was terminated at the end February of 2021 for being trans/nonbinary. I came out as a new year's resolution, and my dead name is Emma Teskey. I have no facebook or social media of any kind, never have. I am leaving this same review on Google as Aksey Temme, which is an anagram of Emma Teskey. I have lived in Prescott for 11 years now, but I'll be moving as soon as I can manage it. The official reason for firing me was "customer complaints", and I was given no severance, no unpaid sick leave, and only one day's notice of the termination. There are some things that everyone who shops here should know, about BOTH locations.
1. They sell items years past their expiry dates; check everything you buy. Prices that end in the number 6 are almost always expired.They will not allow returns on expired goods, even if they are fermented or decayed. I had to bury things in the garbage DAILY so that the owner would not fish them out and put them back on the shelf.
2. The owner buys many discount items in bulk to repack that are damaged or past their date. There is nothing wrong with that, except wherever he stores them is infested with rodents. The address of his warehouse and packing house in Black Canyon City is printed on every bottle of honey he sells. I was required WEEKLY to sort through items covered in feces and urine from rodents "so it wouldn't go to waste". I had to decide what was "safe" to sell and what was not. I know rat and mouse leavings when I see them. I was raised on a farm/ranch off the grid near Cordes Junction. Immunodeficient customers beware.
3. I regularly had to empty dead mice from mouse traps and clean out mouse nests in both locations. Including but not limited to: nests in the employee fridge insulation, inside the walk-in cooler at the Prescott Valley location, and in boxes of goods brought up from storage in Black Canyon City. Cross contamination is a given, as no extra cleaning or quarantine of these items was required of us.
4. They require(d) masks on customers and employees all through the COVID crisis, but there was never extra cleaning or disinfection required of us. The owner often walked in with no mask and initiated many a casual conversation, with NO social distancing, with customers that WERE wearing their masks, further putting them at risk. He is over 75 years old, and is an at-risk demographic. I took it upon myself to clean during my shift, but other employees did not so much as sweep the floor. If you are immunodeficient in any way, DO NOT buy anything in the ziplock bagged sections. They only want it to LOOK as if they are complying with COVID regulations, which actually puts both the customer and the employees at greater risk.
5. The ziplock bagged sections are not rotated or dated. They are inventoried once or twice a week to see what needs restocked, that is all. The most common returns were stale or spoiled items from this section, and we were only allowed to give store credit for these items. No refunds, and customers had to spend the credit right then or lose it entirely. If I pulled items off the shelf that were fermented or stale then I was usually reprimanded. The owner would EAT items like fermented medjool dates and rancid sunflower seeds in front of me and pronounce it "fine to sell".
6. Most of the honey is pure, with one exception. The "Wild Mountain Pecan" honey has additives that are not stated on the label. Many of our customers have found this out and avoid it, and the additives change from batch to batch. Other customers declare it is their favorite and call it 'distinctive' and 'unique'. The additives I know for certain are molasses and artificial pecan flavoring. The label is identical to the other pure honeys on the shelf, and it is inaccurate.
7. They pay their employees over minimum wage, which is nice. But only if you fall in line and do not mention the daily health code violations. I was spit on by one customer (she left us a negative facebook review under the name Chantal Regan) and spit at a second time. Luckily I was behind the counter shield second time, but it was by a male customer that didn't like the mask requirement. When I brought both incidents to my coworkwer's and the manager's attention, I was dismissed as "rude" and blamed for both incidents. "Nobody else is getting spit on, so it must be something you're doing." Direct quote from the manager, Irene Handley.
Thereafter, I did not put myself within six feet of any customer not wearing their mask correctly in order to keep myself safe. This did not help customers feel like they were being served, I am sure. But I also stopped telling people to put their masks on unless they were completely off of both their mouth and nose.
I swear by whatever God or Gods you'd like that all of this is true. I have tried to remain objective and calm in my assessment. read more