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271792 tn?1334979657

Just another day at the market

Today I went to Whole Foods. It is like Vegas. You go there to feel good but you leave broke, disoriented, and with the newfound knowledge that you have a vaginal disease.

Unlike Vegas, Whole Foods' clientele are all about mindfulness and compassion... until they get to the parking lot. Then it's war. As I pull up this morning, I see a pregnant lady on the crosswalk holding a baby and groceries. This driver swerves around her and honks. As he speeds off I catch his bumper sticker, which says 'NAMASTE'. Poor lady didn't even hear him approaching because he was driving a Prius. He crept up on her like a panther.

As the great, sliding glass doors part I am immediately smacked in the face by a wall of cool, moist air that smells of strawberries and orchids. I leave behind the concrete jungle and enter a cornucopia of organic bliss; the land of hemp milk and honey. Seriously, think about Heaven and then think about Whole Foods; they're basically the same.

The first thing I see is the great wall of kombucha -- 42 different kinds of rotten tea. Fun fact: the word kombucha is Japanese for 'I gizzed in your tea.' Anyone who's ever swallowed the glob of mucus at the end of the bottle knows exactly what I'm talking about. I believe this thing is called "The Mother," which makes it that much creepier.

Next I see the gluten-free section filled with crackers and bread made from various wheat-substitutes such as cardboard and sawdust. I skip this aisle because I'm not rich enough to have dietary restrictions. Ever notice that you don't meet poor people with special diet needs? A gluten intolerant house cleaner? A cab driver with Candida? Candida is what I call a rich, white person problem. You know you've really made it in this world when you get Candida. My personal theory is that Candida is something you get from too much hot yoga. All I'm saying is if I were a yeast, I would want to live in your yoga pants.

Next I approach the beauty aisle. There is a scary looking machine there that you put your face inside of and it tells you exactly how ugly you are. They calculate your wrinkles, sun spots, the size of your pores, etc. and compare it to other women your age. I think of myself attractive but as it turns out, I am 78 percent ugly, meaning less pretty than 78 percent of women in the world. On the popular 1-10 hotness scale used by males the world over, that makes me a 3 (if you round up, which I hope you will.) A glance at the extremely close-up picture they took of my face, in which I somehow have a glorious, blond porn mustache, tells me that 3 is about right. Especially because the left side of my face is apparently 20 percent more aged than the right. Fantastic. After contemplating ending it all here and now, I decide instead to buy their product. One bottle of delicious smelling, silky feeling creme that is maybe going to raise me from a 3 to a 4 for only $108 which is a pretty good deal when you think about it.

I grab a handful of peanut butter pretzels on my way out of this stupid aisle. I don't feel bad about pilfering these bites because of the umpteen times that I've overpaid at the salad bar and been tricked into buying $108 beauty creams. The pretzels are very fattening but I'm already in the seventieth percentile of ugly so who cares.

Next I come to the vitamin aisle which is a danger zone for any broke hypochondriac. Warning: Whole Foods keeps their best people in this section. Although you think she's a homeless person at first, that vitamin clerk is an ex-pharmaceuticals sales rep. Today she talks me into buying estrogen for my mystery mustache and Women's Acidophilus because apparently I DO have Candida after all.

I move on to the next aisle and ask the nearest Whole Foods clerk for help. He's wearing a visor inside and as if that weren't douchey enough, it has one word on it in all caps. Yup, NAMASTE. I ask him where I can find whole wheat bread. He chuckles at me "Oh, we keep the poison in aisle 7." Based solely on the attitudes of people sporting namaste paraphernalia today, I'd think it was Sanskrit for "go **** yourself."

I pass the table where the guy invites me to join a group cleanse he's leading. For $179.99 I can not-eat not-alone... not-gonna-happen. They're doing the cleanse where you consume nothing but lemon juice, cayenne pepper and fiber pills for 10 days, what's that one called again? Oh, yeah...anorexia. I went on a cleanse once; it was a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I detoxified, I purified, I lost weight. On the other hand, I fell asleep on the highway, fantasized about eating a pigeon, and crapped my pants. I think I'll stick with the whole eating thing.

I grab a couple of loaves of poison, and head to checkout. The fact that I'm at Whole Foods on a Sunday finally sinks in when I join the end of the line...halfway down the dog food aisle. I suddenly realize that I'm dying to get out of this store. Maybe it's the lonely feeling of being a carnivore in a sea of vegans, or the newfound knowledge that some people's dogs eat better than I do, but mostly I think it's the fact that Yanni has been playing literally this entire time. Like sensory deprivation, listening to Yanni seems harmless at first, enjoyable even. But two hours in, you'll chew your own ear off to make it stop.

A thousand minutes later, I get to the cashier. She is 95 percent beautiful. "Have you brought your reusable bags?" ****. No, they are at home with their 2 dozen once-used friends. She rings up my meat, gluten and a wrapper from the chocolate bar I ate in line, with thinly veiled alarm. She scans my ladies acidophilus, gives me a pitying frown and whispers, "Ya know, if you wanna get rid of your Candida, you should stop feeding it." She rings me up for $313. I resist the urge to unwrap and swallow whole another $6 truffle in protest. Barely. Instead, I reach for my wallet, flash her a quiet smile and say, "Namaste."
26 Responses
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4626633 tn?1382597122
Me too, in Alabama. Up north if you asked for chicken fried steak, their clueless!
Helpful - 0
4626633 tn?1382597122
What a gifted writer you are!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I grew up with chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, chicken fried okra, if you can eat, you can chicken fry it. It's amazing that Wholefoods started in Texas. I never quite understood that personally. It obviously caught on. I'd like to try some of that chicken fried pig smothered in lard gravy, sounds mighty fine.
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3197167 tn?1348968606
IBK....you are SO funny!!!  My hubby is from Aiken, SC and let me tell ya...your comment "they don't do health food here" really resonated with me...LOL  Many years back....when we drove back there to see the family...we had "toted" snacks with us.  Even thru all the years of my "unhealthy habits"....I mixed in a lot of healthy to make myself feel better LOL  When Mama saw I was feeding her son celery sticks, raw cauliflower and carrot sticks....she said in her VERY Southern drawl....."whatchu doin Connie feedin my son RABBIT FOOD"..!!!!!

She fried EVERYTHING....even Rib Eye Steaks....no sh*t **** Tracy!!!!

This was fun.....whether you wrote it or not.....I can see how someone who hadn't set foot in a health food store would think they landed on Mars....
and see, you had me believing you actually spent $108 on some cream for your face!!!!  LOL  I'll try to UN-program that thought from my memory Miss Football Queen~
Helpful - 0
271792 tn?1334979657
I just saw this. As funny as this was I did not write it but I am glad you got a laugh out of it. I was rolling on the floor. I live in Tennessee. They don't do health food here. I live in The Land of The Pig and everything is smothered in sauce or cooked in lard. LOL
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
This article has actually gone viral, they where reading this at our local health food store last month and cracking up. I'm all organic, but the 95% beautiful people telling everyone namaste are annoying. Not all natural food people are like that, I promise. Namaste!
Helpful - 0
3197167 tn?1348968606
She really didn't????  Plagiarism?  Copy and Paste?  LOL
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
IBK-   Everyone thinks you wrote this!!  ROFL!    
Helpful - 0
3197167 tn?1348968606
You're a writer and a fighter, girl.......thanks for sharing your giftedness~
Helpful - 0
4113881 tn?1415850276
That was great!
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2083449 tn?1381354708
I wonder how they would feel about the bologna and olive loaf that is in my fridge!
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Avatar universal
OMG That was hilarious!! I am cracking up because you described EVERY visit to whole foods I have ever had NO WONDER why the parking lot is crazy!! I'd be cray after leaving as well!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
OMG - Speechless :o)

Hilarious and you DEFINITELY should be writing reviews
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hilarious!  Do you gys have a Trader Joe's?  It's right on par with Whole Fools...I mean Foods...   I'm still wiping the tears...so funny...
Helpful - 0
495284 tn?1333894042
COMMUNITY LEADER
I will just take a peanut butter jelly sammich please!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
BBQ Portobello, tofu dogs, veggie burgers(wheat free), and veggie cabobs will make a great party. I made kobucha before, I'll get the yeast brewing. We will need colloidal silver to counter act the carcinogens from the smokey food, but we gotta live a little sometimes. We can do an Arise and Shine cleans after to make sure to eliminate the mucoid plaque.
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4522800 tn?1470325834
LMAO!!! So when are we having that BBQ..What are we going to put on the grill and have as a side dish??  That was put together like a professional or even better..Well at least you are not Brain Dead..Or did they have a machine there to check out that one..lol
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I want to know what you ate for supper!

That was pretty good lol!
Helpful - 0
2083449 tn?1381354708
I thought I loved Whole Foods! You've now scared the crap out of me! I will never step foot in one again!

Also, I doubt I can ever post again. I can not compete with your talent with the written word. There is a Pulitzer Prize in your near future.  I would sincerely like to apply for the job of being your agent.

Now, I'm off to change my Depends.
Helpful - 0
495284 tn?1333894042
COMMUNITY LEADER
I have mentioned this before...underpants with the cotton crotch!!!
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4341997 tn?1514588688
that was awesome IBK!!  LMAO!!  
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Avatar universal
OMG.....fantastic!!!  I needed this today.....thank you!  LOVE it :))
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
That was hilarious!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Well I've just finished wiping the tears from my eyes, that was the funniest piece of writing I have read For a while, so funny! You should write reviews for the major magazines, I would check out the places you review just for kicks, lol.

Thanks for making me cry, ;)
Helpful - 0
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