On the weekend Deanna and I and some other friends went to a berry picking place in Chilliwack (well, Yarrow, practically). It was pretty much the end of the season but we got lots of blueberries and a few strawberries ‘n’ raspberries.
The name of the place is Country Bumpkins – the most aptly named company in the history of time.
We were there with two other couples and there was just one person to help us pay for our foodstuffs so naturally with such a short staffed operation things are bound to go horribly horribly wrong.
First up Stewaria put their buckets on the scale and the lady weighed and added up the maths. I put our buckets on the counter about 5 feet away from theirs. The lady took Stewaria’s buckets and started putting the contents into those green foamy takeaway baskets (you know the kind) on the counter. She started grabbing our buckets o’ berries — which we hadn’t paid for — and mixing them into Stewaria’s. All of us pretty much tried to stop her.
Us: “Don’t mix those up.”
Her: “I have to mix them up to put them in the baskets”
Me: “We haven’t paid for those yet”
Her: (Not looking up) “I’ll do yours after I finish with these guys”
Me: “Those ones are ours”
And it went on like that and in no time the situation was fubared. Some of our berries were mixed with Stewaria’s and some weren’t and there was no way to figure out accurately how much anyone owed. So she gave us a dollar off…of something but we don’t know what that something was. But the best part was that when she realized the mistake that was made, she got pissy at me.
Then, for the piece de resistance, we decided to buy a jar of jam and put it on the counter with the rest of our stuff. As she was ringing it through she picked it up and started to walk back to the jam section, asking “what size of jam do you want?”
“The size in your hand” is what I wanted to say but didn’t.
This from a self-proclaimed 15 year veteran in the u-pick berry service.
So, for future reference, if you ever go to Country Bumpkins, please for everyone’s sake, only go in one at a time.