Anti-Enthusiasm

My local small-town grocery store is pulling a bait-and-switch on us customers. The grocery circular came out a few days ago, and there are yellow pricetags highlighting the specials everywhere, including the meat department. In the meat department there is a big, bright yellow tag advertising "Chuck Roast - Bone" for $1.99 a pound. Immediately above the tag in the meat case are several packages of "Chuck Roast," but it's boneless. It's also $2.89 a pound. I looked through the meat case, searching for the $1.99 meat, and it's nowhere to be found. I wonder how many people see "Chuck Roast" on the tag, see "Chuck Roast" on the packages of meat, and never notice that they're paying $.90 a pound -- nearly 50 percent -- more than they think they are?

I asked an employee where the $1.99 meat was. He got the meat market guy, who I asked for about six pounds of roast, as I needed four pounds of edible meat for my recipe. Meat Market Guy very willingly went in back to cut some roasts. After several minutes, he comes back with 4.59 lbs. in the form of two roasts. I notice the meat is kind of dark, but I'm cooking in a slow cooker, so no big deal.

However....when I get home, the meat is full of bone -- not just the big bones I expected, but small chards and chunks of bone. There is also sinew and gristle throughout the meat. It's the crappiest piece of meat I've ever bought on purpose. I lost 1.5-2 pounds in waste.

So 1) They put the price tag directly under a similar, but different higher-priced product; 2) The advertised item wasn't available in the meat case at all; then 3) They sell me the worst quality meat ever.

Unless I'm forced to by circumstances beyond my control, I'll never buy meat at the Lowe's Supermarket/Pay-n-Save again.