Mayor Hazel and Ingle's

Jan has been moaning and groaning on our walks the last few days. She claims it's from standing on her feet Friday and Saturday to help distribute VFW Buddy Poppies. We think it's old age. After all, she is older than all of us and our 9 lives together.

Well, our friend Sherry sent us a video link that puts Jan to shame. (Okay, she sent the link to Jan and we appropriated it.) An 88-year old mayor with energy to spare -- and no whining when her dogs try to walk her. Of course, we don't actually know whether she has dogs, but if she did, she wouldn't be whining about walking with them. She'd probably be racing them down the road -- and win!

But since we mentioned the VFW, we'll take a minute to update our post A Sad Day. We hope you caught the message, that it wasn't just about the VFW being denied permission to fundraise on Ingle's Markets property. It was about the entire community being tossed out on their butts. The fire departments, most of which are volunteer, can't do another Boot Drive to raise funds. The little kid with cancer is denied a car wash to help pay his medical bills.

Friday night Jan learned that a couple months or so ago, Ingle's Corporate sent a memo effectively ending community involvement of any kind. Corporate sent the District Manager personally to post "No Soliciting" signs on the doors and to remove -- get this! -- the community bulletin board where folks could post lost animals, pets needing a home, church events, etc. Guess Ingle's, like other big corporations, has lost perspective and relegated the local community to the litter box. And we all know what goes on in a litter box!

Anyone using the email form on Ingle's website to complain, even if they specifically mention they don't live in Ingle's territory, receives a canned response:

Thank you for contacting us. Due to our increased concern for safety we have ceased activities of this kind at all of our locations. We would like to thank you for your understanding. Many groups and organizations have benefited from Ingles' giving in the past and we are hopeful that you will find other opportunities to meet your current need. A copy of our Community Giving Policy can be found at the following link http://www.ingles-markets.com/donations.php . Please check there to see if this may be an avenue for your organization. We appreciate your shopping at Ingles.
Customer Service
Ingles-Markets.com
Phone: 866-226-7168

Now, first of all, this is not about seeking money from Ingle's so their response is a slap in the face to anyone receiving it. A friend of Jan's replied, asking if Ingle's had even bothered to read his original message and he received the above for the second time. So, basically, no one is reading the messages. It's just an assembly line -- one message in, canned response out.

A Viet Nam vet cc'd Jan. We don't think he'll mind if we use a couple of lines from his message: "I wrote ingles supermarkets costumer service department about their most questionable corporate decision from their web site. .... I nicely explained without any form of vulgarisms that their corporate decision was a kick in the hind ends of disabled veterans of the USA." We imagine he received the same canned response.

We hope our post didn't get the local Ingle's manager in trouble with Corporate. And with no disrespect to him, since he has nothing to do with Corporate decisions, we think this decision was a kick in the hind ends of all Ingle's customers and their communities. Unforatunately, it reflects a growing trend. Non-involvement.

Enough said! Now to our fun video. You will enjoy this energetic mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.



If the video won't play, click here.