Healthy Options Shangri-la sucks

Well, that should get their attention.

Kimiko has atopic dermatitis, so she’s allergic to a lot of things and we really have to be careful about what she eats. Sometimes she gets bored of the usual organic rice lugaw, so I get her cereal from Healthy Options — that and  the bottled juice, fruits and veggies, all of which are supposed to be organic.

Anyways,  I usually buy from the Healthy Options branch in Ayala. It’s the most convenient branch for me; but last Wednesday (or was it Thursday?) I opted to go the Shangri-la branch because it was raining and I didn’t feel like walking the distance from the MRT Ayala Station to Greenbelt Park.

Pagdating ko sa branch, I went directly to the shelves. Immediately I noticed how bored and snooty the made-up cashier and store personnel were (they did look snooty, they did!). They didn’t even lift their heads to say ‘good evening, mam.’(Not that I require or demand salespersons to kowtow or salaam to me, pero the difference between the Ayala staff and the Shangri-la staff was glaring because the former are always smiling and pleasant when I visit their store).

Okay, so there I was, picking out the jars of fruit and vegetables and cereal for Miko. One of the counterpersons walked near and no, she didn’t ask me if I needed help, she looked at me like I was going to shoplift! Holy heck, I wasn’t paranoid. Okay sure, so I wasn’t dressed to the nines, but still.

I went to the vitamin supplement shelves and asked for a bottle of fenugreek. Aba, another counterperson walked up, lazily reached up to take a jar, then handed it to me. The boredom couldn’t have been more obvious on her face. When I asked if they had a smaller jar (kasi 100 capsules agad, I wanted to try out 50 capsules first), she looked at me with something akin to a smirk — as if to tell me , what, you can’t afford a P675 bottle? – and answered “wala”‘ in a bored tone that matched her previously bored look.

Okaaaay. Hell, I know it’s somewhat conceited, but I’ve been told that when I speak English I sound like an American, and it was the freaking first time that I wanted to give someone a dressing down  in English, complete with the freaking twang. E putsa, the Shangri-la Healthy Options staff had the look of bigots — parang they prefer their customers in Giorgio Armani or Escada before they serve them with a smile. Should I have spoken to them in English instead of Filipino? Wait, the last time I checked, I was still in the Philippines and  don’t give a centavo’s worth of pakialam that the Philippines is supposed to be the third biggest English-speaking country. Would it have made a difference if I spoke in a foreign tongue?

Sa pagmumukha ng mga staff sa Shangri-la, I think yes, it would have. Anak ng #$%%^$@@$^&@!

I paid and walked out. At the time I wasn’t upset,  I just noticed how rude they were. I was in a good and forgiving  mood because the pipe-in music was The Beatles and who could be angry hearing “Here Comes the Sun”?

Anyways, hindi na ako bibili na hinayupak na tindahan na yan sa Shangri-la. I’m a fan of the salestaff of the Greenbelt HealthyOptions branch: they’re polite kahit na one time I was wearing muddy sneakers and a ripped t-shirt. They still gave me the full wattage of their smiles, and they asked how I was and my baby (syempre smart sila, seeing that I always bought  baby food it was plain commonsense that I had a baby). I’m writing this just in case naggo-google ang management ng Healthy Options. I’m not really upset now, but am a little pissed off. Paano pa kaya sila if they’re dealing with even ‘lesser mortals?’

Tomorrow I’ll have the receipt scanned and pasted here. Hmmm.