Again, I quit.

The following is paraphrased from the words of a co-worker at my, soon to be former, workplace:

So, in the meeting he said that there were two management styles they could employ. In the first the managers enforce the rules established by "corporate". In the second, preferred style, we all police each other and report those breaking the rules to the management. I resisted the urge to tell him that this was fascism he was describing.

Although I don't entirely agree that what my manager said, word for word, was in fact fascism, I can find few other words that truly capture what a corporation really is. I will not make a direct statement defining my employers as such a weighted term, for I have no business labeling anything fascist. I simply haven't read enough to truly use such a word. Furthermore, I could easily be fired for what I've said already, and added to the list.

On second thought, my existence at Vitamin Cottage is inconsequential, and tomorrow will be my second to last day. Therefore, I will say whatever I damn well feel like. Thank you, invisible audience for giving me the chance to do so.

In Boulder there are many natural grocery stores to choose from, but most are now owned by WholeFoods. One of the few exceptions is Vitamin Cottage, an independent business that started around half a century ago in Colorado, and can be found through the state, and in New Mexico. The particular store where I work is the most successful of them all, in terms of sales. There are many possible reasons for this. One is that the store practically shares a parking lot with WholeFoods. This makes it easy for customers to shop at both, getting lower prices at Vitamin Cottage, and then if we happen to be sold out of or not carry something they need, they can head over to the giant WholeFoods. We're a small store so we are out of things often, and if one were to shop exclusively at our store, they'd have to deal with the constant annoyance of not getting everything they need/want. People are lazy. I too would rather get all my shopping done in one trip, rather then go out of my way to save a few bucks.

So this situation has worked out great for Vitamin Cottage, and if all that really matters to you is price, it's a great place to shop. But if you're just as concerned about supporting smaller, less evil corporations, a concern which many customers have expressed to me personally, this store is not your haven. Even the assistant manager himself said to me during my interview, "Why not work at Wholefoods, we're a corporation too, what's the difference?" I had hoped that this question was merely his way of testing how committed I was to supporting local businesses, but I now have no doubts that as a tool of the corporation, this is his way of looking at it. Many customers came our way after the local co-op closed down, saying "This is our last refuge." But it's not. There is nowhere to run now. Every month the cement that the employees walk through hardens a little more (management not excluded, in fact it is they who deal most with the corporatism and bureaucracy) . It's become all rules, structure, and uniformity.

Many people I have met out here have at one time said to me, "Were you here when (such and such local business) closed down? That was the one of last of the real 'Boulder' places." Each time they referred to a different shop that was at one time the lifeblood of Boulder. You can imagine I was discouraged to find that I had moved to a dying city. I have though much on it to try and debunk this idea, by finding something still thriving that truly captures that which makes Boulder "Boulder." The mountains will always be here, I suppose. Locally owned zero-waste cafes aren't hard to find. There's still plenty of pot everywhere. But these are all merely on the surface, the aesthetics of what I believe Boulder once was. Right now, having been here for a mere year and half, I think that Boulder is a vibrant city, with one of the highest standards of living in the country, and many progressive policies and ideas. It's a city with a long fruitful life ahead of it. But as it grows bigger and "better" as a city, the community dies. It was the people that made "Boulder" what it was. Just as a human heart is fragile and ever-changing, so is "Boulder". I'll reiterate my beliefs (so as to give myself another chance to state them more clearly). The community that was once found here in Boulder is what has all but died out. That is what the people whom I've talked to saw disappear with the closing of that one shop on the corner.

What does this all have to with anything? I believe that the incorporation of small businesses is a big part of the changes Boulder has seen in recent years. Vitamin Cottage is milking this by maintaining an image as a friendly neighborhood grocer, while becoming just as corporate as the rest. So it profits and expands, allowing it to be a competitor with the other businesses that are taking over Boulder, but some customers, those who still long for the old "Boulder" they knew, still think they are supporting their (dying) community. Forgive me if I postulate too much. I have no proof of any of this. Perhaps this Boulder of legend never existed. Perhaps corporations aren't a bad thing, and every new rule at Vitamin Cottage will benefit the customers and employees in the long run. Perhaps in twenty years no one will miss those small, local stores.

I really fucking doubt it. ~D

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"Open your heart. I'm coming home."