Greg Snyder, Owner of the Hilltop Variety Convenience Store on Munjoy HIll.  (Photo Taken in January of 2019).

Borrowed From the on-line “Americans Against Republicans”  Check it out!  If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry!

Borrowed From “Americans Against Republicans” On-line. Check it out for a few laughs!  Or Tears!  Or Maybe Putin is Better Qualified to Work at the Pentagon.

Front End Manager, Kaylie Delacruz, Who Said She Would Ask the Owner to Contact This Blogger for a Comment.  MHN.com Never Hard From Gene Snyder.

Borrowed From “Americans Against Republicans” on-line. Check it Out for Some Good Advice!

Today employees at the Hilltop Superette at the corner of Congress and North Streets told this blogger not to  purchase the “Republican Press Herald” there any longer because of a perceived, but inaccurate, slight by a cashier at the store.  “You are a racist.”

This blogger, previously a 20 year customer of the Superette,  formerly Colucci’s,  is not a racist and never has been.  However,  Hilltop employee Mary Kay emailed me that I am a racist and that’s why she has banned me from the convenience store.

To the contrary, one of the former owners of the exclusive Lolita restaurant on the Hill told me she would not read my blog any more because of my liberal views; this blogger supported the former Mayor’s  proposal that immigrants/asylum seekers who are not yet US citizens, be allowed to vote in local elections.  Is that a racist view?

“You need to understand.  I come from a Hispanic background.  My parents arrived in the US illegally years ago.  I was born in this country, but I’m sensitive to comments about illegal immigrants,” this  disturbed cashier told this blogger today repeatedly.  The first iteration wasn’t enough.

His confession followed a discussion about some possible illegal immigrants working in the area who had just purchased lunch at the Superette. One, who spoke some English,  told me they were from El Salvador, When asked who their boss was, the group of six or so, dressed in paint-covered work clothes, left suddenly. “What you said hurt my feelings,” the cashier complained to me.

Fortunately, I didn’t expect him or anyone else there to listen to my life’s story!

This blogger told the offended cashier I was sorry his feelings were  hurt and I had no intention of hurting his feelings by this conversation.  Nor did this blogger have any idea of his Hispanic background. He’s an American to me. This blogger is not responsible for his hurt feelings.  He is.  Someday this millennial  will learn that as well as other fine points about customer service in a fast food joint that also sells the “Republican Press Herald.”

It has been well publicized that it is hard to find qualified employees to work in the food service industry.  The burn out rate is high. One restaurant owner told me in late summer it’s partly because there are so many restaurants and food vendors open in Portland.  “You have to grab and try to hold onto whatever you can get to stay open.  Millennials are the toughest to employ because everything is about them and them only.  Customer service can suffer because of this attitude.”

Another restaurant owner told me several years ago that he had cancelled his plans to expand his popular business on Munjoy HIll because of his inability that he could find qualified people to hire to fill the positions required in that expansion.  In contrast, the staff at the popular Clam Hut at the corner of Cumberland and Washington Avenues is outstanding and serves as a role model for customer service in the area.

This blogger has heard other reports of problems at the Hilltop Superette since Greg Snyder purchased it earlier this year.   One former customer was told he would be sued if he pursued his serious issue with the  store.  This same individual told this blogger recently that the store is doing poorly because no one knows what they are doing.  A former employee who did not stay as a cashier long told this blogger that there is a serious communication problem.  No one working there knows his left hand from his right hand, she said.  And vice versa.

Snyder lives in the Augusta area. He once called former Mayor Ethan Strimling, a “nut-job,” was not working at the store during the incident.  Someone at the Munjoy HIll Fire Department told  him that the former Mayor was a “nut job” he told this blogger..   Snyder is allegedly an anti bug-vaccine person.  Unfortunately, he has not responded to a request through an employee. Kaylie Delacruz, front end manager,  for a comment on the situation.  (See above photo of Delacruz).  Are you  Communication deficient?

Shop Locally? No thank you.

Please see post herein dated January 4, 2019 on the new ownership of this store.