Good for Trader Joe's. At many grocery stores, shoppers have to run the gauntlet of the homeless panhandling and selling newspapers, or else be solicited by people collecting signatures for voter initiatives. Those folks are paid by the signature, and their aggressive questions get old.
We love our citizen initiatives here, and I guess there's nothing wrong with "direct democracy" per se. Although sometimes we just don't like what we voted for in the first place and then want to change the law by getting it on the ballot again. For example, we voted in favor of excessively high car tabs to pay for public transportation. When the license bills started coming, we decided that wasn't such a great idea after all.
Anyway, I find myself at Trader Joe's several times a week. It's right on the way home from the gym and easy to get in and out of the parking lot. Early in the morning the shelves are always freshly and fully stocked, which I understand is not the case late in the day when people are looking for food on the way home from work. The employees are consistently cheerful, helpful and competent. In fact, TJ has one of the highest employee satisfaction rates of any company. Sometimes I wish I was the lady working behind the free sample counter! Well, maybe not. Retirement is pretty nice.
Still, a person who spends much of her time cooking, cleaning and puttering around the garden should make some effort to keep the brain cells functioning. I've been thinking about starting a new volunteer position for some time, and tomorrow I have an appointment with the museum manager at the Southwest Historical Society. The nice thing is, they are right down the hill on Alki beach.
I'll let you know how it goes...
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