Follow
Hi Mariano’s welcome to our neighborhood, we are happy to have you as new neighbors.
First of all let me thank you for bailing out the mess that those baboons from Safeway(not even worth a hyper-link) made here in the Chicago area. They were able to take a local icon and destroy it quicker than a kid eating a bag of Jays Potato Chips, you will be selling those, right?
Now that we got all the niceties out of the way, let’s talk about what we expect from you as you enter our community.
As much as I dislike what Safeway did, the people who work at our local Dominick’s are a part of our community and though you have to go through the interview process with all of them, please treat them well and take into account that to many customers they are more than just “employees.”
When we found our my wife was pregnant, the only person we initially told was Arnie, the pharmacist, he celebrated with us as if he was a relative and when our son almost died on delivery, Arnie was there to share his thoughts and prayers as well. Georgia, Alphie and Jennifer are always there with advice and concerns whenever we need it, they are more than people who fill prescriptions, they make it a point to invest the time in who we are, which is why we are there.
We know their names and they know us. The friends we have at our community Dominick’s know the names of our kids, help out at he community fund raisers and treat us with kindness and respect.
I know the in’s and out’s of “Big Rich” and his sons football career. Carmen and I speak Spanish to each other and Mary Ellen can make our baby smile even when he is in a horrible mood. None of them “have” to do this, they do it because this has been their “career,” something they have dedicated their lives to and used to raise their families, something that needs to be taken into consideration as you start the process of repopulating your new stores.
About that, seniority should be taken into account. 30 years of experience speaks volumes in this job hopping world we live in. It means they have 30 years of food store knowledge, they are not “just looking to get paid,” if they were accountants or “suits at a food chain” that would be recognized, it should be here as well.
Our Dominick’s hires special needs adults who have been given the opportunity to learn independence, make an income and to be a part of something “bigger.” They are trusted, they help us find food, walk our bags to our cars and aren’t treated as “special” just as people. The thought of Sean not being there to talk about the Bears or Jamie who is always waiting to laugh and joke with my kids as I am paying for my food is sad.
Scenarios like these played out at Dominicks all over Chicagoland, which is why people keep coming back.
I understand what you are doing is a business, but smart business is something that makes for a successful business. Our family looks forward to going to Dominick’s because of these people and the intangibles they bring to the table.
While we are excited to have you move in, you can be a welcomed neighbor or not, that’s up to you. Great bread and artesian cheese is awesome, but within a three mile circle, we have a Jewel, Super Target, Costco, 2 Trader Joe’s, a Whole Foods and a few others. Where we shop is up to you.
Some of these people have made it their lives to work at Dominick’s low ball salaries and no insurance is not the way to start a relationship. I heard a rumor that Jewel offered former Dominick’s employees ½ pay and insurance after 5 years, we know you would never do something that horrible.
So there you go. As I said, thank you for coming and cleaning this mess up we look forward to having you as a neighbor, just be a good one.
