Columns Mar 11, 2010 at 4:00 am

Screw You, PCC Freeloaders

Steven Weissman

Comments

1
Wow.
2
I find the use of the term "300 pound pieces of shit", in reference to human beings of any sort, disgusting. I am not in disagreement with the writer, but thia language is akin to calling someone fag or nigger in my book...
3
I agree. Obese Fatasses would work just as well.
4
My, my. Don't we feel superior today?
5
ah, the fat debate again. are the extra pounds nature's cruel joke, or were they nutured from cheese puffs, donuts, and 7up? perhaps a bit of both? let the debate begin. oh, and freeloading hippies don't care if you don't like it. they consider it a lifestyle.
6
@4: maybe anonymous feels superior because he/she has a job and some fucking purpose in life. Freeloading motherfuckers like those 'hippies' should be left to fucking starve in the gutter. If they get hungry, they can fucking cannibalize each other's corpses.

They survive one the charity of others, even though they don't need it. People who don't NEED charity shouldn't GET charity. Fucking useless wastes.

As for the lard ass cunts, if you're rich enough to be fat, you're rich enough to turn down any fucking free handouts. We ought to render them for lamp oil.
7
Can we get rid of the pain-in-the-ass people outside asking to support their cause? Do I want to help stop dog-fighting, save Puget Sound, save the whales, or save the trees? No, I would like to club baby seals, poop directly in the Sound, use blubber to power my year-round Christmas lights and write about it extensively with one word per page. Leave me alone. The Real Change guy can stay- he always smiles and tells me to have a great day. The Sierra Club, etc. though can go to hell. I donate to many similar causes regularly, but these a-holes are more akin to the aggressive panhandling that is being banned downtown. Or maybe show me your tits. Or lick my bunghole.
8
"Some dogs bay at the moon - others tree 'possums."
9
What a dick! This is one reason I avoid PCC,(besides the ridiculous prices) the shoppers there are apparently rich fuckholes. And what the hell is wrong with eating the samples at Costco? Isn't that why they're there?
10
Yes, they are freeloading hippies and they really irk me. But if you really want to about freeloaders how about the mega rich bankers and schemers making billions of dollars in bonuses and tax breaks while they live off the backs of the hard-working middle class.
11
Further proof that everyone inside a PCC is an insufferable twat. I hated having to shop there for so many reasons, but the non-stop posing was the worst. "Look at me! I eat organic! And take 3 hours to buy a week's groceries!" I felt ashamed to be in the place.
12
"Get a job hippie!"
-E.C.
13
@Jim Stroche, who won't "hide" behind anonymity because nobody on the internet ever has the potential to be stalked, murdered, or raped when they use their real names:

I'm not in disagreement with you, except on one point:

"As for the lard ass cunts, if you're rich enough to be fat, you're rich enough to turn down any fucking free handouts."

In some countries, you're right, being overweight or obese IS seen as being rich enough to afford food--and thus, an ample gut or ass is something to be coveted. (Or at least it is until they get mTV.)

However, in OUR country, the healthiest food is the most expensive, and the least healthy food is the least expensive. Fast food, for example, is aggressively marketed to the poor. Thus, it is entirely possible to be dirt poor in the United States and STILL be a "lard ass cunt," as you so elegantly put it.

On the other hand, even those who can afford better often gorge themselves on worse, and those who can afford a Costco membership probably DO have enough money to eat more healthily. So you're not entirely wrong.

I would watch the rage, though. That's as much a killer as clogged arteries.
14
So says the PCC shopping douche nozzle...
15
Amen to that. Die Hippie!
You stinkpots aren't fooling anyone.
Also, stop wearing those damn KEXP hoodies.
Everyone knows you've never donated a dime so stop frontin chump!
16
If PCC or Costco or wherever else can't afford to give out samples, they will stop giving them out.

In the meantime, I will eat as many samples as I can get away with.
18
The hatred...my god. @10 is on the right track; we're all getting fucked while we hate each other for petty reasons. Freeloading hippies don't bother me--ill-will, greed, and ignorance do.
19
@18: Well said.
20
In Anon's defense: pieces of shit shove people out of their way, nearly run over small children with their carts, and block entire aisles in order to get free samples at Costco. The majority happen to be in the 300lb range. The others can be called 120-299lb pieces of shit if you like.
21
@16 PCC is presumably paying for the samples they give at the deli counter, but end-of-aisle samples at Costco and grocery stores are generally paid for by the company/brand that is being sampled.
22
Hey, writer, you're a hippie. You're more of a poser than the dude eating the free shit. "Oh, I'm so offended by your hippieness"--spoken like a true hippie trying to act tough. You just sound pissed off because someone kept you from your overpriced deli crap. But you don't know where else to shop, because, well, you're a hippie, whether you like it or not. Neener neener neener, you're a hippie, you hippie-assed hippie. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
23
One hippie hates another hippie, boo hoo...I cared until you stopped focusing on shitty behavior (asking for endless samples, not showering) and started making fun of anybody you find unattractive.
24
I love this I, Anonymous.

Can I get another sample for my son?
25
What's PCC?
And I agree with the sentiment of the writer's rant. Basically it's an attack on some rude assholes that are wasting everyone else's time. Whether it be in line while some assface is babbling/ texting on their phone and then going, "oh wait, I need to pay now" while the cashier is waiting for them expectantly or the like.Doesn't matter if they are hippies, black, hipsters or aliens.
It's simply just RUDE.
26
Fuckin A right. And Mint Chocolate Chip, you sound like a pretentious, splooge-filled Seattle cunt.
27
You know what would be awesome? Booze samples at the booze store!

Or blowjob samples at the blowjob store!
28
Seattle must be a very strange place. Where I live, people giving out free samples in the grocery store have to practically beg people to try them because everyone knows they are just trying to get you to buy the product.
29
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, skippy - let's not go off half-cocked and trash the free samples at Costco. My idea of a perfect Sunday is free sampling every aisle, then it's off to get my $1.50 hot dog and Coke. Heaven.
30
@7 - could not agree more. I can and do actively go out of my way to shop at places I can get into unmolested. I feel like I'm running a gauntlet almost every time I go to a grocery or drug store in Seattle. The little cookie-mafia types just lately, but also the Real Change people, the spangers, the petition people, the canvassers, gaaaah! They have all entrances/exits covered and all I want to do is get some groceries, or a toothbrush at the drug store, dammit. I'm thinking about DINNER, not forests, not dogs, not whales, not buying a newspaper, not cookies. DINNER. I do donate to causes I choose, through the United Way, which takes some damn forethought.
31
People in Seattle get so angry about the stupidest things. It seems like everyone's walking around just waiting to explode at each other for having bad habits that people everywhere have. This is not that big a deal.
32
What's PCC? Is that like Whole Foods? Worse?
34
FAKE
35
Glad I don'r live anywhere near Seattle.
36
@35: The same problems exist everywhere. It's not a Seattle-specific epidemic.
37
They have really yummy brunch samples at the new QFC in Ballard!

:p
38
@2

get over it. your book sucks.
39
"People in Seattle get so angry about the stupidest things."

We've been telling them to go back to Pittsburgh for years but they won't leave. Most of the "assholes" in Seattle are from elsewhere.
40
@30.......try living in cape town where people are begging you for money at every street corner. EVERY STREET CORNER. quit your bitchin'. at least you have a PCC or a Whole Foods or a Madison Market or QFC or a Larry's Market or a FARMERS MARKET to shop at. hell, i miss Safeway.
41
Hippie and hypocrite have been synonyms in most of my life experiences. But really, who cares? Annoying, self-centered simulations of real people can be found in every category. It is best to just sit back and enjoy the performance.
42
Dang- I just woke up people... I'm so glad that I don't own a television any more, this is much more entertaining. I feel kinda guilty for reading it, and frankly, sadly, kind of enjoying it. (I guess that's what I anonymous is all about)But please, please, please, do yourself a favor and get a blowjob, or your pussy licked, or something... I SWEAR it will make you feel better-
43
Hey, how many of you PCC-hating, stone-throwing assholes shop at your local QFC... the Kroger corporation's local experiment in market penetration and price-gouging.

Take 5 minutes in both stores and do a price-comparison some time. Especially if you want to buy ANYTHING that isn't on "QFC card" special.

Oops -- you've been wasting money at QFC this whole time! Middlebrow Seattle dumbshits.
44
To those of you who do not live in Seattle... PCC is a co-op kind of grocery specifically designed for the organic vegetarian/vegan crowd. Though they sell meat, it's "natural, organic, free-range" type meat. Very expensive but good quality food.
45
The only thing more disgusting than a person abusing PCC is PCC itself.

This chain stands for Pretentious Corrupt Cororation, and have lost its soul years ago. Should have been called Wolpmart after Dick Tracy Wolpert who was appointed democratically, then slowly but surely built his dictatorship.

Boycott PCC or, better yet, abuse it!!!
46
It sounds like the author should refrain from going to PCC around dinnertime.

And she needs to be fucked. BIG TIME.
47
Boycott PCC

The only thing more disgusting than a person abusing PCC is PCC itself.

This chain stands for Pretentious Corrupt Corporation, and have lost its soul years ago. Should have been called Wolpmart after Dick Tracy Wolpert who was appointed democratically, then slowly but surely built his dictatorship.

Boycott PCC or, better yet, abuse it!!!
48
I get so tired of the same tropes being trotted out.

Compare anything PCC carries to the same item at QFC (whether it falls into QFC's "natural" sections or not): the PCC price will be 30-40% less. Compare PCC to Whole Foods: it's 40-50% less.

Sure, organic meat costs more than processed-corn-poured-down-the-throat-in-a-feedlot cows. But even there, PCC charges less than QFC for the organic stuff!

Unlike QFC and Whole Foods, PCC doesn't see conscientious shoppers as a niche demographic to gauge and exploit, but rather as its primary customer base and therefore worth treating with respect and loyalty. Those of you ragging on PCC and wasting your money at QFC are certified morons.
49
That's "gouge," not "gauge."
50
Chill out. They're just trying to get to another day and maybe find some level of happiness in this screwed up existence. What's a little bit of food to a PCC fer Christ's sake??? C'mon. Love your neighbor.
51
You know why they do it? Because they get away with it. Next time shove them aside so you can get your stuff and get on with your life. Slackers, moochers, hippies. S'all the same.
52
@46: What gave you the idea that the author of this I, Anonymous was a hard-up woman? (Personally, I think it sounds like a man.) Or that sex solves anger management issues? If you're a sex therapist, I think your license should probably be taken away--or at the very least, you might want to rethink your prescription.
53
Whatever, maybe they were hungry and didn't have money to buy food. Did you ever think of that?
54
emerald-city eyed monster:

@51 makes a good point: half the problem here is the Seattle overpolite/PC/don't rock the boat introspectiveness. Just another facet of the freeze.

note to OP: Throw some elbows, Get in there, and get you some. You're clearly jealous that they're craftier and more forward than you.

55
I wish I had enough free time and energy to work up some anger about this. On second thought, I'd rather save my anger for stuff that actually matters like say the fact that the healthcare system will actually never get properly overhauled.

Why would anyone give a fuck about hippies eating free samples at PCC?

It's like those rants people get into about hating people who wear trendy clothes or do trendy stuff. Misplaced anger much? If you're going to do the misplaced anger rant about something stupid and inconsequential have the decency to make it funny and quit wasting everyone's time. Try to work your rage into something useful. Sheesh.
56
@ 48 PCC IS MORE PRICY THAN WHOLE FOODS!!!
Not sure about QFC, since I hardly ever shop there, but in general WFM offers better prices than PCC in almost all categories.

You would have been right till about ten years ago, once the Pretentious Corrupt Corporation switched its attitude. It may come to you as a surprise, but a statement like “PCC doesn't see conscientious shoppers as a niche demographic to gauge and exploit” is far removed from reality as they’re exploiting both their loyal cliental AND their employees.
Members owned food co-op? Don’t kid yourself.

Oh yes, they are local. So was Ted Bundy. And even Slade Gorton is.
57
Fif @ 47 & 56,

It seems that you've got a vendetta against PCC, and it seems personal.

While the corporatist evil of former Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is well-documented, I'll admit that I know next to nothing about PCC's operations.

But your personal dislike for PCC doesn't ACTUALLY make them more expensive. That's ad hominem logic.

Cumulative experience has consistently yielded these results:
- a trip to Whole Foods is a bank-breaker.
- a trip to QFC that does not involve tailoring purchases to "QFC card" specials IS WORSE.
- PCC will easily save me 20-30% over those other two, often with better quality food.
58
pcc fills a niche for those who want and can afford their food.

they have a strong customer base. and let's not forget multiple NW locations.

so ultimately you people can bitch all you want, aint going to change anything.

lol...
59
When I first moved to Seattle in 1982, PCC branches were filthy, the produce was limp and old and had bugs, and the pasta was uniformly gray and tough. I hated it. It's a whole new world now; I think the food is great, it's WAY cheaper than QFC or Whole Foods, and I enjoy my visits. I'm 50, I don't think of myself as a hippie (but I don't wear makeup so maybe I am a hippie after all?), and I like to shop locally. Now if only I actually lived in Seattle and could still shop there!
60
Christ, did I accidentally click on the website for the KKK, or the Republican party, or the Taliban. What is wrong with you people? PCC has always had the crazy ingredients I can't get anywhere else. And instead of making me buy a $12 bottle of fenugreek, they allow me to buy just 35 cents worth. Talk about OUTRAGEOUS PRICES!!! You want to see a really irritating fuckwad? Check the mirror.
61
@53 They should get a job then
62
I don't like filthy pigs, either.
63
I thought that all the "hippies" converted to money grubbing/planet destroying/Right wing Boomer assholes back in the 80's/90's? Seattle must be extra special - we don't have hippies in Vancouver - we just have junkies, the Homeless and of course the Boomers....

Hey I feel like a field trip south to check this out - where do I find these "hippies" besides this grocery store?
64
PCC sucks and is misleading

d.p. @57- Yes, it is personal for the reasons I have already mentioned. Talk to anyone who worked at the Pretentious Corrupt Corporation about ten years ago. And don’t kid yourself, the abuse and shady business practices keep going on, union or not.

Does any one remember few years ago when the P-I exposed PCC buying cheap, standard sea food and sell it for premium as “Eco Fish”?
I guess you don’t. And this was only what came out to the press. Better check that “organic range-free” chicken more carefully.

Personal aside, I still insist that WF beats PCC in almost every category. Not saying they’re saints, but at least they don’t lie to me. And being a big chain they often have great deals under their own365 label. You just have to be a careful shopper and know what to get.

And if you’re really interested in helping a local members-owned grocery store then shop at Madison Market.
65
@39 Hahaha...

I swear this city is being overrun by angry East Coasters or aggressive L.A.ers
66
I don't think they're "playing it off as a joke". I bet they are laugh their asses off later, and saying things like "Dude, did you see how mad that guy with the chicken was?!!" I would KILL to see someone slap a hippie, or anyone for that matter, across the face with a chicken leg. Put it on youtube PLEASE. I won't be there to witness because I can't afford to shop at PCC.
67
I work in a PCC deli, and the hippies can be painful if it's busy or I have shit to do. But they are generally nice and have weird hippy stories to share. People who don't respond to your hello and dive right into "give me a pint of that" and point into the case assuming I can read their minds, those are the assholes we all hate, especially if they are regulars. Now to the argument about PCC being too corporate: PCC is member-owned. Members no longer work hours at the store like traditional co-ops, being too large is one of the reasons. Most members don't do anything with their memberships because they just view it like a Safeway club card. It's not. You get to vote and attend meetings, and generally if you want to have a say, you can. All the stores have suggestion forms readily available and if you bitch enough, you can make shit happen. @fif, If you are really into changing the store, run for the member board. Get on that shit, and shake things up. We would love that. You've got to realize that the office is populated with old people, and the board is populated with people who want an easy hobby or something nice on their resume, or the employee discount without actually having to work at a grocery store. Do something about it. I Fucking dare you.
68
Great I, Anonymous
70
@67 Your Local Neighborhood Deli Clerk
Guess what, I was just like you. Yes, in a deli, in my own neighborhood. I dared, I payed for my seven-fucking-year-job.
In retrospect maybe I shouldn't be so sorry. I moved away from the abusive food/grocery business and got into some more creative, semi hi-tec stuff.

Yet I still HATE PCC. I hate them for betraying the local neighborhoods, I hate them for cheating customers and employees alike, I hate them for promoting the wrong people, and I hate the idea that they managed to get away with all that shit only because of the clout they had from past years.

But let me tell you something my young fellow... I take small steps at a time... I noticed at my neighborhood Pretentious Corrupt Corporation that your prices on bulk nuts are actually not that bad. So whenever I need some more I go there and get the organic ones while writing the codes for the non-organic.

I know, a very small step at a time, but we all need to do our share.
You too my friend! Wreck some havoc and then move on!!!
Do you really want to be in that abusive industry twenty year from now????

Do something about it. I Fucking dare you!!!
71
Let's do some math, and see how you are gentrification personified:
a) Most people are hungry around dinnertime.
b) Poor people tend to go where there are plentiful free food samples.
c) Hippies go to organic/co-op grocery stores.

You like the character that these types of stores provide, but would prefer to have it without the types of people that usually go there.

You are a Belltown condominium in 2003.
72
Wow, what a hateful sack of shit the writer is. This bitter accusation is dripping with venomous contempt for the whole world, not just the denizens of PCC or CostCo alone! Is there anyone or anything this miserable turd isn't unhappy about?

I'd rather shop shoulder to shoulder with a free-loading, fat, smelly, grubby hippy than with a miserable whining douche-bag like the author.

At least the smelly, fat hippy doesn't nurture the delusion that the she/he is godlike and perfect. Feh.
73
These are the kind of people who read the stranger??
whoa.
I used to love I annonymous - now it just makes me sad.

May all beings be happy.
May all beings have peace.
May all beings have wisdom.
74
Funny!

x)
75
Calm down.
76
Good lord! I shop at PCC because the prices are MUCH better than the Thriftway down the alley from me and the quality of meat and produce is better. If you have a problem with the clientele, don't fucking shop there! Go back to Safeway where you belong...
77
GO HIPPIES GO! Anything that pisses off a Republican comes straight from the heart of God. Savor those samples slooooooooowly.
78
Funny. Reminds me of the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where the woman wants to try every ice cream flavor as Larry David slowly goes insane because she's "abusing the sample code" (and then she chooses vanilla, "vanilla?!"). It's funny because we've all been there.
79
Wow...a whole lot of bitter faux hipsters in here...FYI...if you wear skinny jeans and vans...it doesn't make you cool...you just look like a douche bag...Love's me some Safeway...oh...and I also love costco...I'm not 300 pounds, I eat the samples and somehow maintain my inshape physique, I'm also a faggot....Basically what I'm saying is I loved all the ranting crazy folks in here....yeah...I'm typing at YOU!
80
Sounds like this dude needs to shop at his OWN store, in his OWN neighborhood, in his OWN city, and perhaps on his OWN planet, because he obviously does not want to share this one with anyone who is not up to his whitebread standards. Dude, you suck and I don't want you in my store with your smelly narcicism and judgmental nastiness.
81
@71 stuckie: BRILLIANT

82
@67: thank you for putting 2 cents in. good angle to have.

everyone else: arguing about yer fav grocery store is as fruitful as arguing over fav sports team. The real answer of 'who's the best' changes so fast and so often it's not worth the effort to worry 'in the moment'.

Besides, anyone who's got any carbon-footprint responsibility/guilt at all knows most of us just go to the grocery store that's either close to home or on our way to/from our daily activities. S'not like I'm on cap hill and going to drive all the fuck down to Rainier Valley/ColumbiaShitty or up to Aurora just to get granola and chicken carcass. I don't even bother with the denny WholeFoods, as it's out of the way for an urban city dweller on the hill.
Maybe if the SLUT came up denny, but until then...., sorry expensive foodies. Someone else gets my dollars.
83
Gilletebret for Mayor! and there are plenty of native seattle assholes...liberal fucks!
84
Eh, coming from someone who worked at a deli counter, the freeloading hippies are the least of one's problems. In fact, I prefer them hands down to the pretentious assholes who say the food looks disgusting, the people who sneer down at you when you smile at them, or the people who are cracked out on coke who ask for brown bags full of condiment packets. Seriously, at least the hippies/street kiddies have some semblance of being polite...in fact, compared to most customers, I welcome their pleasant company.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.