"Do you like this?" The Whole Foods battle cry

"Do you like this?" she said while holding up the Briyani seasoning. I looked at her, the typical Whole Foods check out cashier. Nose stud, check. Dye streaked hair, check. Birkenstocks, check. Tattoo, check. As I began my detailed description of the merits of a good Briyani marinade, I noticed that she continued bagging my groceries with nary an attention to anything I was saying. I was taken aback for a second trying to reconcile why a she wasn't listening to a word I was saying when she was the one asking me if I liked it.

Then it struck me.

I've had the same conversation with many other check-out artists, as I like to call them, many times in the past. Until today, I never realized that those conversations were hatched in some conference room at the Whole Foods headquarters. The cashiers are trained to engage the customer in friendly banter, and one of the tactics they learn is to use a strange or unusual product at check-out to engage the customer in a conversation. And suddenly I realized why they were so interested in my Korma seasoning, soy yogurt, and vegetable chips. It was part and parcel of the Whole Foods experience.

I smiled as she handed my bag of groceries to me, not saying anything about the conversation that had been abandoned mid-sentence. I knew her mind was already on the next customer.

I pretended to look for my keys as I eavesdropped on her conversation with the next customer.

"Did you find everything okay sir?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Do you like this?"

I looked up and saw her holding a bottle of Queso, waving it at the customer.

Seriously? Queso? She should have waited for that bottle of Agave nectar. It would have certainly been more believable.