Where’s the Hand Snapped Michigan Asparagus?

Posted by Laura Bergells

May 21, 2007

Originally uploaded by G.Chris Clark.

Mmmmm….. I love West Michigan in May. One of the key reasons is that May is the month and West Michigan is the place — for the most delicious asparagus in the entire world.

No exaggeration!

From Mother’s Day to mid-June, you cannot beat West Michigan for hand-snapped asparagus. It is abundant, and it is especially tasty.

So when I see it advertised in the newspaper, I race to the nearest store to get the first hand-snapped batch.

Unfortunately, my nearest store has gone downhill quite a bit in recent years. I usually go to the second-nearest store, because customer service (and selection) at Horrock’s is just so much better.

But I was in a hurry, so I went to the nearest store. Mistake!

Here’s an example of bad customer service in action –

With an air of anticipation, I walked all over the darn produce department in the near-empty market, looking for my beloved Michigan asparagus. When I could not find it, I walked up to a produce employee, who was idly poking at some bags of arugula.

“Where’s the Michigan asparagus?” I asked her with an excited and friendly tone.

“Where it always is,” she replied angrily, not even glancing up from the produce bags.

There’s just so much that was wrong with that reply.

I twas curt and ungracious, to be sure. But consider this — if I knew where it “usually” was, I wouldn’t have asked her in the first place!

When I mentioned this to her (with a big grin), she actually turned her back on me! She muttered something under her breath, so I said,

“Pardon me? I couldn’t hear you!”

She turned around, pointed east, and exploded in anger, “It’s over there!”

Amazed, I said,

“See, now was that so hard? If you had said so in the first place, this encounter might not have been so unpleasant for you.”

She turned her back on me and muttered again, so jovially, I said,

“Come to think of it, it’s NOT always there. I mean, I seldom come here any more, but I distinctly remember the aspargus being more toward the south end of the produce department.”

She kept repeatedly poking at the arugula bags, probably imagining they were my face. She worked very hard at ignoring me while I prattled at her. Because she was so weird, I just left and went to Horrock’s.

Hey, the grocery business is competitive. That’s why customer service needs to be competitive, too.

BTW — I had no trouble finding the asparagus at Horrock’s. Because it is a seasonal special, they had it front and center in a special bin. They didn’t put it “where it always is”.

But if I had to ask an employee at Horrock’s, I’m pretty sure they would have been delighted to escort me to the “specials” bin.

After all, there’s no need to scream at somebody for not knowing where you usually keep your asparagus!