Whole Foods a little, um, touchy

The fishmonger of Whole Foods in Ann Arbor had just punched out on break when he responded to a commotion involving a manager and a shoplifter. He finally caught the shoplifter, but the manager let him go…the shoplifter, I mean. The employee, John Schultz, was “let go” the next day, Christmas Eve. Why? Because he had “physical contact with a customer.” Never mind that he was on his own time and on somebody else’s property (or that a shoplifter is by definition not a customer); touch is a terminal offense at America’s organic food giant — even, I suppose, if it involves CPR or doing the Heimlich on somebody choking on a sample from the smokehouse bar. Gee, Mr. Mackey, that’s not very New Age, is it? Or was it the violence? Should we all circle around criminals and sing “Kum-bye-a” until they collapse in agony?

Dudes, I love your cheese, but there’s the Co-op, Nature’s Bin, Mustard Seed (no longer Wild Oats, alas). If you want to punish somebody for refusing to cooperate with evil, then I guess it’s OK with you if I punish you for cooperating with evil.