hide and seek at the grocery store

What a sweet gesture from a giant corporation--
it is possible for them to seem human sometimes.
Gabes, for your next trip to Nashville!

Trader Joe's has a secret. It's not a dark secret, of course. I mean, we're talking about Trader Joe's, after all.

When anonymous employees took to Reddit to spill the dark secrets about their places of employment, the big reveal about Trader Joe'swas that everyone really was actually that nice and liked working there.

It turns out that Trader Joe's biggest secret is completely adorable: In most stores the employees are playing a low-key game of hide-and-seek with all the kids who come in.

A lot of customers don't realize it, even if they shop at Trader Joe's regularly, but somewhere in the store, the employees have hidden a stuffed animal. Any kid who finds the stuffed animal is given a special treat, like a lollipop, as a prize.

"Now, I cannot say that there is one in every single store, but in general, stores typically have one," said Kendra Friend-Daniel, public relations director for Trader Joe's. "It's a way to engage with kids in our store. If they locate the hidden stuffed toy, they just let a Crew Member know and they'll receive a treat. The type of stuffed toy and treat may vary store to store, but for example, in my local Trader Joe's there's a hidden penguin and when my daughters locate it, they receive a lollipop."

The stuffed animals do vary from store to store. Some stores have monkeys, while others have penguins, lobsters, cows, or other stuffed animal mascots. 

via {the kitchn}