I. Lee T. W.
Yelp
I've been shopping at Albertson's in Abilene since the 90s, first at the location that used to be on South 14th (which hasn't been around for years now but as of this moment is for some reason listed on yelp) and then after that one closed, at their Buffalo Gap Road location.
I take several dietary supplements and one thing I like most about this place is that there's almost always a large number of buy one get one frees available of one brand or another. And I've noticed that they don't raise the normal price of the individual bottles during these sales to get more money out of you while trying to trick you into thinking you're getting a better bargain than you actually are, which is what some other places who have BOGO sales are guilty of.
Another thing they deserve credit for is stocking products they didn't previously have available or had stopped carrying, because I requested them. Something I was also glad to see recently were tear-away forms on shelves inviting people to place requests for products they'd like to see carried, which as a customer is a gesture I really appreciate.
I would normally give this store 4 stars rather than 5 because regular non-sale prices can be significantly higher than what other places charge for the same thing, and because they got rid of the self-checkouts. However, I'm giving a rating of 3 stars, and deducting one star for the following reason.
I was up early this Sunday, so I decided to get out to do a little light shopping. I've never really had any sort of major problem with employees here and the way they treat me, and in general most of them are alright. There is one lady in particular who's been with Albertson's for at least ten years now (which is as far back as I remember her presence, although she might very likely have been with them longer) who I'm always glad to see when I'm there. She radiates pleasance and niceness.
Today, however, I had the misfortune of encountering for the second or perhaps third time an employee whose name, if I remember correctly, is Charlotte Peele, and it was enough to motivate me to write this review.
Ms. Peele possesses one of the most poisonous demeanors of any employee I've ever encountered in this town. At the moment I can think of only one other (a woman with a grey cabbage patch 'fro who manages the Burger King, which I no longer patronize) who is as startlingly unpleasant as this person.
After casually perusing the store, I ended up at the register with a bottle of juice, several boxes of various teas, and two six packs of New Belgium beer, removing them from my shopping cart in that order. Ms. Peele was the only cashier on duty and there were almost no other customers to be seen anywhere in the store. When she saw the beer, she said to me "You can't buy beer before 12 on a Sunday!", which I suppose as a simple statement seems odd yet innocuous enough, and normally it would be. But the tone in which she said it to me, as if I was a total moron and/or some kind of jerk trying to get away with something unseemly, was totally unexpected and left me suddenly feeling somewhat stunned.
Being unfamiliar with this law (or its logic), and unaccustomed to such automatic hostility, I could only mumble something about how that seemed strange. Furthermore, the manner in which she spoke to me wasn't just short-tempered impatience; there was something about it that felt weirdly contemptuous.
She then swiftly placed the beer away somewhere and quoted me the cost of the rest of my items. I swiped the Visa in the reader, and the subsequent exchange was as follows:
Me: Uh... I think I'll come back after 12 so I can buy my beer then.
Peele: (said in a normal tone of voice while looking straight at me with a smile on her face.) Ok. (At this moment, she was confirming the purchase as credit and completed the transaction.)
Me: Um, what I meant was (that I wanted the purchase cancelled)
Peele: (fangs out again, interrupting) WELL YOU JUST SENT IT THROUGH.
Me: Yeah...
There was no use in the subject being discussed any more at that point. She tore off my receipt and handed it to me, and I walked out of the store half-wondering what had just happened. The way this woman seemed predisposed to so easily and dramatically alternate between a tone of perfunctory detachment and borderline venom struck me as remarkable.
The thought of Ms. Peele as my cashier and having to potentially interact with her is actually enough to make me avoid being a customer there. I did end up going back to the grocery store after 12 to get my beer. But this time I went to United, not Albertson's.
