I Heart the Harris Teeter Produce Guy

Yesterday I went to the grocery store with my sweetie, a common Sunday afternoon ritual. We headed over to the Harris Teeter in a bit of a hurry as my Colts were playing in the 1 o’clock game and I wanted to be home in time for kick-off. With bizarre travel schedules and, well, to be honest, lots of Sunday afternoons at the bar since football season started, we’d been negligent in our shopping duties and the list was long.

I’m diligent about writing the grocery list according to store layout. That way, when we’re done with the produce section, we move on to the bakery, then the deli without any backtracking. It maximizes efficiency, and gave me the confidence that I’d be home in time to see Peyton and the boys take the field. But…Who knew Harris Teeter wouldn’t have pre-cut butternut squash or fresh thyme? Now, I know I could have subbed in dried thyme or cut my own butternut squash, but there’s something more gourmet about cooking with fresh herbs, and while I like doing things “from scratch” there’s no satisfaction gained from the labor that is peeling off the hard shell of butternut squash and tearing through the unyielding flesh, and in my case, wasting at least half of it in the battle that ensues.

As my husband and I discussed whether we could find pre-cut butternut squash in the freezer section or if I should put myself through the work of peeling and cutting, the Harris Teeter Produce Guy overheard us and ever-so-nicely intervened with, “If you can’t find any in the freezer section, we’ll cut and wrap some for you.” Now, if you’re not from the DC area, this might be less surprising to you, but all of my local friends responded the same way: “He did WHAT?!” There’s a level of service expected in DC and the bar is right about what you’d expect from the cable or phone company. Sure, they’re glad to help, as long as it can happen during the window of time that’s most convenient for them and only in response to your explicit request. There is no above and beyond in my world anymore. I was too stunned to take HTPG up on his seemingly too goot to be true offer right away and instead I decided to check the freezer section. HTPG then asked if there was anything else he could help with and my husband mentioned we were looking for fresh thyme. HTPG explained they had just run out of dill and thyme, but were expecting more in tomorrow’s shipment. No big deal, I said, I’d use dried, and we ventured on to finish our shopping. Somewhere around the juice aisle, HTPG tracked down my husband with a jar of dried thyme, apologizing that the fresh wasn’t available, but he didn’t want him to have to search the store for the dried. Wow. That was nice, I thought.

After securing our bread, meats, and dairy, we ventured to the freezer section where we saw absolutely no pre-cut butternut squash. Feeling defeated over having to retrace my steps to the produce section, I decided I’d cut my losses and head back to the east side of the store where I could get a whole squash. Fortunately for me, it was close to the restroom and with the amount of caffeine I consume on a regular basis, I don’t typically go without a trip to the ladies’ room for longer than about 30 minutes. I handed off the squash to my husband and headed on my way. In the meantime, HTPG lifted the gourds off Dave’s hands, whisking them away to the back room. I returned from the restroom and, moments later, HTPG emerged from the back with our bright orange produce nicely wrapped in their own plastic containers, no trace of the pale peel that drives me so crazy. Even better: the price marked was the same per pound price I’d have paid to buy the whole squash! (Please see previous reference to how much squash I waste when I cut them up myself. This was practically like a buy-one, get-one-free deal for me!)

Overwhelmed with the sheer amazing-ness of HTPG, we headed toward the check out stand completely speechless. We got in a short line and started unloading our cart. Just as we got down to the last few items, our hero surfaced again. This time, carrying– get this– a package of fresh thyme! He offered it to us, ”if we were still interested” and then took the dried thyme off our hands (which, by the way, I was only buying because of his exceptional customer service. I’ve got lots of dried thyme at home…) 

I can’t stop thinking about him now. I got home in time to watch the whole game, and the Colts 31-3 victory over Baltimore certainly added to the sweetness of the day, but now, on Tuesday, it’s not Colts Rookie Bullitt who is on my mind as Sunday’s big hero. It’s the Harris Teeter Produce Guy whose name I only wish I knew. He’s the type of employee every manager should be so lucky to have.