NYT: Food Co-op Exile's Story Demands 2,000 Words
Comrades, a new bar has just been set for Park Slope Food Co-op navel gazing: “For such a scrutinized institution, little public attention is paid to people like me—co-op failures and near-failures who have struggled to stay in good standing and have stumbled in the cramped aisles. Like every other aspect of the much-loved and…
Comrades, a new bar has just been set for Park Slope Food Co-op navel gazing: “For such a scrutinized institution, little public attention is paid to people like me—co-op failures and near-failures who have struggled to stay in good standing and have stumbled in the cramped aisles. Like every other aspect of the much-loved and much-hated co-op, the topic of members in trouble draws a bushel of opinions. An organic bushel, of course…The co-op, a place that raises aspirations for society, makes us raise aspirations for ourselves. I am still suspended, but imagine myself someday returning and remaining in good standing. Nostalgically, I envision old friends and former roommates in the aisles, examining the white nectarines. But I wonder: couldn’t it be a little mellower?” —Flunking Out at the Food Co-op
Photo by Betty Blade.
It is true not all walks of life shop there. The more affluent you are, the less likely you are to shop there. There are many many low income folks that are coop members though, and many many people for whom it is only a community or a ‘social’ choice, and who forget that it is out of necessity for some other folks.
“it’s obviously not run/managed by anyone who gives an ounce about making any money”
someone missed the point.
amen petebrooklyn.
join or don’t, stay or don’t, who cares!!! this has got to be the most played out topic in all brooklyn journalism. i think the only article left to write is WHY does the coop arouse such negative emotions among those who never join or who join and leave? i am a member for a very long time and it works beautifully for me — why are you so intent on convincing me that i’m just plain wrong about that? what’s your goal — to get me to quit? to stop other people from joining? why would that be important to you?
maybe just the way all organizations are by nature. Food coop, condo board, corporations, goverment, utility company , civic club, fraternal org, military, etc, etc etc.
quote:
who come from all walks of life
that’s lolsy. if you think the people who shop at the coop come from “all walks of life” you are insane.
*rob*
Dreamking, your solution might be efficient and elegant, but wouldn’t satisfy the bloodlust and komradship feel of the Politburo. Seriously, I thought the essay could have been about any academia-led venture: nonsensical policies, bureaucratic and paper-intensive, designed to satisfy the intense cravings for intellectual dissent. I am reminded of all the splinter Trotskyist student groups of yore.
tybur6, youre right, its not really negative reinforcement, but you get the point.
It is also true that there are often too many workers just hanging around. The difficulty I’m told, in implementing a new solution is apparently the need to reprogram the computer/calendaring system.
Look, its not a perfect place, but its clearly got something going for it given that it’s been around and growing since ’73?
The funniest thing is that this neighborhood of lefties and socialist types who complain about corporate world and the need for community involvement, have it in the co-op, but then bitch that its not run like a Wal-Mart.
obviously the place has been running for years just fine. if don’t like it don’t go. who cares anyway?
why do people love to hate on it? just because it is not conventional? can’t handle anything different?
I’ve never belonged but I did go in there once maybe 20 years ago. just not my thing but so what.
agree that the place sounds poorly managed and that the incentives are kind of bizarre. but it’s not as if this is some big secret – i’ve lived near the coop for about a year and don’t actually know anyone personally who is a member, and yet not one single word of the article was a surprise. what comes through most loudly in the article is the author’s ridiculous sense of entitlement to break the rules and not pay the price, even though she clearly knows what that price is in advance, and has no reason why she shouldn’t have to pay it. hence her delight at the lady at the greenmarket who let her walk away with a pie based on her word alone. ‘cuz we all know that the author deserves to get her pie without paying the entire price for it, and definitely, absolutely, is gonna come back with that $4.