The lovely gentleman working at the kosher section "Nissan's" has just ruined my family's experience, and any potential future business, at Top's "Friendly" Markets with a few choice words tonight, August 30th, at around 8:30pm. He shouted at me, my mother, and my little brother when we showed him a frozen food package and politely asked what the expiration date was, since it was in his section.
He said, word for word, "It's frozen," and, upon looking at our confused faces, he continues, "you eat it." We were more confused then, as my mother subsequently pointed out that her mom knew about health inspection and after 3 months, even frozen food goes bad. That seems common knowledge, especially to someone who owns a section of food business inside Top's Market.
He laughed and yelled at us, "Your mother? Who are you? How do you know?" My mom then proceeded to explain that her mother knew substantial health inspection information because of her job, as I also began explaining that New York State Law requires an expiration date on frozen food packages, but he kept laughing, and replied "Why you women always fight?" I wasn't able to sit back and tolerate this kind of sexist, misogynistic behavior at my local grocery store, so I asked for his name. He asked "Why you want my name?" to which I replied "To report you for your sexist comment."
He didn't speak a word to any of us after that, and he never did give me a name, but I spoke to two Top's employees about his behavior, one closeby working in the fruit section, and one working in Customer Service. They said that he rents out that area, and that it's his own business, so they "can't do anything about it." This dismissal of outright shameful behaviour is likely the reason he harassed us in the first place, about "women always fighting" and shouting "what do you know" when customers just wanted a simple date to know when their food goes rancid.
If there are no consequences for him, or for anyone who decides to open up shop inside of Top's, then I'm absolutely certain he'll continue shutting customers down when he's scared and doesn't know the answer to a question, invalidating their knowledge, and insulting everyone involved in order to attain some sort of higher ground on the basis of his abhorrent lack of knowledge.
Consequently, I didn't end up buying anything from "Nissan's," the Kosher section, or anything in the vicinity of his "shop" at all for that matter. His attitude and demeanor are not only bad for his business, but for Top's as well. I will be calling the manager, Cindy, to talk about the next steps in this process, and I'm confident NYS Health Inspection would love to get a look at what he's been selling people, who are unaware of his gross ignorance in the food business.
I wonder if Top's would get involved if Health Inspection ends up shutting his section down, and blaming them for not keeping an eye on things, like customer complaints. Please be safe, be vigilant, and stay away from Nissan's for you and your children's sake. read more