I visited my first AND LAST Aldi grocery store today. I picked up three items and went to check out. Finding myself behind six people, I experienced a personal emergency that wasn't going to wait behind six customers. I rushed to put back the items, went to leave, and there was NO EXIT OUT OF THE STORE BEYOND WAITING IN THE LINE AND GETTING CHECKED OUT. I eventually had to go UNDER a metal barrier between (all empty) checkout stands to get out of the store, and bumped my knee on the hard floor in the process!! If I had been physically disabled, this would not have been an option. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE???

Since when, outside of certain heavily regulated institutions such as a federal maximum security penitentiary, are visitors LOCKED INSIDE STORES?? Someone not so nice who can't scramble under a barrier is going to need to get out someday, not via the checkout line. And perhaps someone ELSE might try to come down on Aldi for racial profiling--I'll bet a half of a grasshopper in a can of spinach (yes, I read this on another complaint site!) if I stopped by Aldis not located in Baltimore City, I could waltz in and out with ease. Oh, and if you want to contact them (I had ALL intentions of being civil, giving them a chance to explain) by phone or e-mail, hang it up; they only offer a SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS, PROMISING A TIMELY REPLY. BUT THEY SURE DON'T MIND ASKING OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR MY E-MAIL ADDRESS!! The year is 2010, and there is NO WAY ANYONE is going to tell me that it is more cost and manpower efficient for a corporation to receive SNAIL MAIL and respond to it than E-MAIL. GET WITH IT, ALDI.

In the future, I'll keep any discount grocery shopping I need to do for Save-A-Lot; it might not be the fastest place, but at least I can leave when I want to! And just so you know, Aldi, $2.69 for THREE LEMONS is NOT A DISCOUNT. THANK GOD FOR ETHNIC GROCERY STORES (IESPECIALLY NON-EUROPEAN).