When Whole Foods isn't scaring the bejeezus out of us with clown signage, they're stealing our hard-earned American dollars. See, the Portreo Hill Whole Foods now required a "donation" of $5 to use wi-fi. Enter one angry customer who plans on boycotting the artisan store.
Boycott Whole Foods' Facebook page fumes:
Whole Foods Potrero Hill (San Francisco) recently began a policy to show disrespect for its customers by "requiring" a $5 donation for "free wifi." While we don't encourage people to abuse free wifi anywhere, this policy demonstrates mistrust of loyal customers. If they want to charge for wifi, what about air, electricity and water?
It is crucial to note that Whole Foods, like more markets and beverage purveyors, already charges for water -- especially the bubbly kind we regularly enjoy.
SFist called the Potrero Hill Whole Foods to find out more. We spoke with the very friendly Nathan who told us that, yes, they now charge $5 for wi-fi access. "You can purchase something to get it too," he explained to us. When asked if it was a companywide policy, he said that, no, the new "donation" system is done on a "store-by-store basis." (The SOMA Whole Foods, for example, still offers free wi-fi.)
The Boycott Whole Foods leader has also got a Twitter account, getting all social media on WF's asses. They have since asked Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Conan O'Brien to joint their boycotting efforts, so the entire thing could be some sort of faint/annoyingly serious joke. Anyway, there you have it.