A lot has changed since 1883 – the year Arthur Hannaford began selling high-quality fruits & vegetables from a produce cart on the Portland, Maine, waterfront. That one-horse cart became Hannaford Supermarkets, a leading grocer serving customers throughout Northern New England and New York.
Times change, but our customers still expect the highest-quality produce, meat and deli products; good prices and great value; and first-class customer service.
-- Promotion from the Hannaford website
"First class customer service"? Say what? Far from it...
This is the second report I have found it necessary to write, exposing the moronic minions who are employees of the Hannaford supermarket in Saco, Maine, and for the same reason: targeting customers for the police state tactics of harassment and invasions of privacy.
The legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages in Maine is twenty-one (21). So, is there any reason at all why it should present a problem for a person who reached that age more than THIRTY-EIGHT (38) years ago, to make such a purchase?
Not in the mind of any rational person. But according to the hirelings of Hannaford, it is "company policy" to target any customer who "appears to be under the age of forty-five (45)" for harassment, in the form of demanding that the customer produce government-issued I.D.
Today, it happened once again, to me --a grandmother of three, just a few months shy of my sixtieth birthday.
At the Hannaford checkout, the groceries I placed on the conveyer belt included two bottles of wine. And, in the true fashion of idiocy run amok, it all went downhill from there.....
HANNAFORD CLERK: (squinting her eyes, scrutinizes me and announces in a smug tone) I need to see some I.D.
GRANDMA HARTWELL: For what reason?
HANNAFORD CLERK: I need to see your I.D. before I can ring up the wine.
GRANDMA HARTWELL: I don't care what you need, your demand is absurd and I won't be showing you any I.D., so please just ring up my purchases and I'll be on my way.
HANNAFORD CLERK: (crossing her arms, chin jutting out) I can't do that, not until I see some I.D.
GRANDMA HARTWELL: Can't, or won't? What in the hell is wrong with you? Are you suggesting that you actually believe I could be UNDER the age of twenty-one? Since I am nearly 60 years old, your demand is not only absurd, but moronic. Please just ring up my purchases, you're wasting my time.
HANNAFORD CLERK: (with a panicked look, calls over a manager) We have a problem here. She (cocking her head in my direction) refuses to let me see her I.D.!
MANAGER: (training his eyes on me and giving me the once-over) Ma'am, we need to see some I.D. Anyone who appears to be under forty-five years of age needs to give us I.D. before they can purchase alcoholic beverages. It's company policy.
GRANDMA HARTWELL: Company policy? In case you are not aware, the legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages is twenty one, NOT forty-five. And I don't give a damn about your 'company policy', I don't answer to you, and you're not going to get any I.D. from me. This is beyond ridiculous! You people have a hell of a nerve, trying to force your police state tactics on customers, and I will not be harassed, nor will I allow you to invade my privacy.
MANAGER: (looking around nervously at others waiting on the line behind me) Well, unless we see some I.D., you won't be able to buy this wine. It's company policy.
CLERK: (chiming in and whining, now) We HAVE to check your I.D.! It's company policy! I could lose my job!
GRANDMA HARTWELL: (to CLERK and MANAGER) I have been a customer of this store for almost twenty-five years. I was shopping here --including for wine-- long before Hannaford took it over, and I must say this place has seen better days --especially as regards customer service.
CLERK: But I could lose my job!
GRANDMA HARTWELL: (to CLERK) Your job is not my concern. My only concern here is my right to shop in peace, without being harassed because of idiotic policies. If you choose to be a minion of the police state by harassing the customers, just because it is 'company policy', you will have to take the consequences. I will defend my rights against anyone who attempts to violate them. That includes you. And that is MY policy.
GRANDMA HARTWELL (to MANAGER): As for you, you have chosen to be an enforcer for the police state. So enforce your idiotic 'company policy' when and where you can get away with it. But that will not be happening here, today, not with me.
Forget the wine. I'll buy it from a store that treats the customers with respect and appreciates their business. I will not be accosted by grocery clerks and treated as if I am a potential criminal. And you've just a lost a good customer, as this is the last time I'll be shopping here --for anything.
CLERK: (huffy now) So then, you don't want the wine?
GRANDMA HARTWELL: That's what I said. Please just ring up the other items. I just want to get out of here.
CLERK: (responding to me as I disdainfully tossed some bills on the counter) Don't throw the money at me!
GRANDMA HARTWELL: I did no such thing. There is the money, on the counter, right in front of you. Now, stop wasting my time with your nonsense.
CLERK: Well, you don't have to be rude!
GRANDMA HARTWELL: Rude? How dare you! If you consider it 'rude' for a customer to express her righteous outrage and disgust with your harassment, it's your problem, not mine.
CLERK: (handing me my change and a receipt, plastering on a phony smile) Have a nice day!
GRANDMA HARTWELL (to CLERK and MANAGER): Enjoy the police state! You earned it and you sure as hell deserve it!
As I wheeled my shopping cart out the door, I heard the idiot clerk whining to the next customer, "Well, she didn't have to be rude, I was only doing my job......"
Only doing my job....just following orders....where have we heard all this before?
That's right.... if you want to keep your job, just become a mindless moronic minion, and just do what you're told, no questions asked, no thinking allowed. Harass the customers and treat them like criminal suspects. Don't worry, it's just 'company policy'.
As regards the preposterous 'policy' of targeting anyone who "appears to be under the age of forty-five", that is a government police state policy which has been implemented in increments over a period of decades. I remember when they first started all this, some time around the mid-90s. A clerk would ask for I.D. from anyone who "appeared to be under thirty." Now, the age has been drastically raised by another fifteen years.
What will be next on the agenda? Demanding I.D. from anyone who "appears" to be under the age of fifty? Under the age of seventy? Demanding proof of residence in a nursing home? Where will it end?
Hannaford and many other stores who sell alcoholic beverages have adopted this moronic 'policy' but there is absolutely no law which requires them to do so. As usual, it's all about Big Government Control. Surveillance, invasions of privacy, interrogations, "Your papers, please"...
And who decides which persons will be targeted? Who decides who "appears" to be under thirty, or under forty-five? Are clerks given the discretionary power to decide? Apparently, but certainly not under any law. And what could possibly qualify these robotic hirelings to make such a judgment?
Should the subjective perceptions, beliefs, biases and opinions of a grocery store clerk, living in fear of losing a job, determine who shall --and who shall not-- be able to make a purchase? Hell, no!
The truth is, this is harassment, plain and simple. Anyone who engages in such behavior --for whatever reason--should be confronted, told in no uncertain terms that their behavior is wrongful. Their demands should be absolutely refused. No self-respecting person would tolerate such aggressive, disrespectful and intrusive treatment.
Yet it amazes me how many people are simply willing to comply with these abominable policies, to allow their rights to be trampled, to 'go along to get along'. As for those who do, they are only enabling the government violators and their moronic minions and should also be held accountable.
And remember this: No one can FORCE you to comply. These government minions can only get away with these violations of your rights if you allow it. It is very simple: JUST SAY NO!
If everyone adopted a ZERO TOLERANCE policy and refused to be harassed, refused to patronize businesses whose 'company policy' involves such violations of a person's rights, these minions of the police state would be stopped dead in their tracks.
And that is the ONLY way to stop them.
Make them sweat. Refuse to spend your hard-earned money at any store whose 'company policy' involves police state tactics, invasions of privacy and harassment of customers. Give your business instead to establishments who value the customers and treat them with respect.
But don't stop there. Take a stand and make your outrage public. Tell your family, friends and neighbors. Hold a demonstration outside of the offending establishments, or pass out flyers to shoppers.
Shame on you, Hannaford Minions of the Police State.
Barbara Hartwell Percival
aka GRANDMA HARTWELL
Mad as Hell and Boycotting Hannaford
November 15, 2010
ADDENDUM:
Hannaford faced a lawsuit for discriminating against the handicapped. In 1999, employees of the store in Gardiner, Maine, mistook a man with a disability for being drunk, refusing him the sale of alcohol. The court found that Hannaford's policy of not allowing management to countermand the initial decision of the sales clerk, even in the light of credible evidence of disability, was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the company was ordered to pay damages.
Hannaford
532 Main Street
Saco, ME 04072-1526
(207) 282-4152
Saco, ME 04072-1526
(207) 282-4152
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Barbara Hartwell Percival
Legal Defense & Research Trust
Legal Defense & Research Trust
Barbara Hartwell Vs. CIA