I’ve been on the Atkins diet for almost 15 months, and it’s been quite successful.
A few days ago I bought a loaf of low-carb bread. At the check-out, the clerk looked at the bread and said, “I think they’re going too far with this low-carb stuff.” She, by the way, was quite obese and had quite an array of junk food next to her register.
There were so many possible responses to her comment, that I couldn’t decide, and wound up saying nothing.
What would you have said?
I would have told her “I’ve been on the Atkins diet for almost 15 months, and it’s been quite successful.”
I did the South Beach diet and it really did work, and I have kept all of the weight off (Now to get back on and lose the rest of what I’ve wanted to lose!), but I am really sick of hearing about how “low carb” everything is. As far as that lady goes, though, I’d have just told her that it worked for me and let it go.
What angelicate said.
Years ago, I lost quite a bit of weight with low fat. One of my friends, who was quite obese and prone to taking double servings of meat, made some crack about how “you have to have some fat” (as if her loads of greasy food intake was “some fat”). I didn’t respond to her comment. It was just defensiveness on her part and I wasn’t buying it. My low-fat diet was far more sensible than whatever it was she was eating.
Sorry, but I have to agree with the cashier.
They really are "going too far"with the whole low carb thing. From what I’ve seen in the papers lately, food manufacturers are pushing low carb but also failing to mention pertinant facts about other parts of the serving - calories for instance.
Food needs to be balanced. There will always be people who push the latest fad too far. I’ve also read that some low carb diets can be harmful to pregnant women.
Look at the women who try to elimanate all their body fat. What happens? Amenorhea (sp?), for one. Your body needs a full spectrum of foods at function properly. Yes, it may well work for you. I don’t doubt that. Just understand that some women can and will take it to extremes at the cost of their health.
The cashier may be entitled to think whatever she wants, but she should have kept her yap shut. It was very inappropriate, especially considering that the OP was doing well with Atkins and was (presumably) using it sensibly.
For the record, while I am happy for anyone who is doing well with Atkins, I’m getting wearing of “lo carb” this and “lo carb” that everywhere. I have no interest on going on the diet myself, in part because I’m a vegetarian. But that is neither here nor there. It’s just rude to say that to a customer.
That should be “weary,” not “wearing.” No idea where that came from.
You’re mostly right, yosetimitebabe, she probably was overstepping her boundries some. I tend to think it was likely just a throw away comment though, meant about the proliferation of “low carb everything”, not the OP personally. How would she know the OP was doing well on the Atkins Diet without being told? The OP herself states that she said nothing.
Uh, I wouldn’t have said nothing like you (the op) did.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, man.
I would have replied, "You are absolutely right. They ARE going to far with this. It’s kind of a hare-brained, fad diet anyway, and probably not very healthy either.
Thanks for waking me up. Which aisle has the real bread?"
They have low carb bread??!!! Wasn’t carbs the whole point of bread?
We live in a wacky world…
Which is probably the point the cashier was getting at, if not terribly eloquently. Having read the ingredient list on some of the “carb friendly” products on the market, and seeing all manner of things which are not found in nature, I had to wonder why people are snapping the stuff up with what seems to be a rather cavalier attitude toward what they are eating (clearly in amounts significant enough to warrant something on the order of 20 new wide-market released products each week) in place of devil starch and demon sugar.
That said, the best response was silence. Everybody’s got an opinion, no reason to get into a fight over it at the grocery checkout.
Me? I would’ve smiled, finished the transaction and left.
Unlike 99% of the people on Earth, I don’t feel the need to respond to every opinionated comment every person makes.
It’s too exhausting!!!
I don’t like when cashiers feel compelled to comment on my purchases, and I generally offer a non-commital grunt.
The ones that really kill me are along the lines of: “Is this any good?” as s/he examines a product. I’m tempted to say: “Nah, but I enjoy buying products that aren’t any good.”
For the most part, I just don’t say anything. I’m there to transact business and be on my way, not chat with the clerk. What I buy in what quantities/sizes/flavors isn’t an invitation to conversation. There’s no reason for me to share that I’m stocking up or buying for neighbors or anything else. Ring me up, thank me for my business, and let me be off.
I hate shopping - maybe that colors my responses.
“I see you have cured your anorexia”
I think she was just trying to make normal conversation… Everyone has jumped on the low-carb bandwagon, she was just making a comment.
No matter what diet you are on, there are people who will think you are crazy for doing that diet. All you have to say is… “works for me.”
I would have wanted to say, “Well, what’s your diet secret?”, or “I think you’ve gone too far with the high-carb stuff.”
But I probably would have just said, “Maybe they have.”
I would’ve motioned her closer, as though I were aboput to tell her a secret. Then, I would shreik, “FRODO LIVES!” and would make all sorts of Daffy Duck noises and movements.
Works every time.
Um… well, in all honesty, I likely wouldn’t have said anything.
On the way to the car, it would have occurred to me to remark, “Gee, are you paid to criticize your customers’ purchases? Or do you just provide this service free of charge? Does your supervisor know you’re, like, offering editorial commentary to the customers about the stuff they buy? Man, I bet you’re a riot when someone tries to buy condoms or KY or something. What’s your supervisor’s name?”
And then I would have snickered to myself, got in the car, and driven home. Not my job to save dippy cashier from herself.
And then, on the way home, I would have a horrible idea.
I would then turn around, return to the store, do some more shopping, paste a horrible, gleeful grin on my face, and make a point of going to that same cashier… and this time, my basket would contain:
*eight boxes of condoms
*a can of Crisco
*a box of Viagra
*a “Twister” game
… just to see what she’d have to say to that.
I agree with merge. I think she was just making conversation. I believe it would be a mistake to assume that the comment was about the purchaser or the purchaser’s choice of what to buy. It was probably just an offhand remark inspired by the presence of the product, the same sort of thing she might say in conversation with a friend or a stranger at the bus stop, if the subject came up. She was being talkative, not being judgmental, and her sin was being oblivious to the the fact that she was critiquing something that the customer had obviously consciously selected.