Food Demo Girl Turned Foodie

                         Food Demo Girl Turned Foodie

I worked for about two years for the food demo company that services Wal-Mart, Sams’ Club, and many others. I worked mostly at my local Wal-Mart and occasionally in other Wal-Mart’s and a Sam’s Club.

I had already stopped eating a lot of processed foods but definitely not all. Most demos I did were food products-or food like food products.

I demoed everything from Slim Fast, Clamato, juice, Greek yogurt, ice cream, pizzas, frozen foods, snack food, sodas, and on rare occasions I would have actual food; typically fruit and once chicken cooked with some ‘meal in a box’.

After a few months I was very well and bored. I was able to set up, train someone, and still have time to go stir crazy…so I started reading the labels on what we were serving as well as exercising behind my cart. (Yeah I can’t stand not being mentally active) I was not surprised, but non the less very disgusted, by the horrible things that even I, with a science background, couldn’t figure out; I couldn’t even pronounce them!

I had a hard time encouraging people to try this ‘stuff’.

I would never lie to them and say I liked it. If they asked, I would tell them the truth that either I hadn’t tried it, couldn’t eat it due to food allergies or sensitivities, or didn’t like it. Some were shocked that I was being honest by not eating that ‘stuff’, but I told them I was paid to show them how to cook it or bring it to their attention, not to eat it.

Actually in our training it basically said you would get in trouble for eating it. Now, I can see how that makes sense…to an extent. If you are a company, you don’t want your employees having the food they are demoing for lunch; but they didn’t even want you to TRY it so you could tell a customer your opinion.

How logical is that?! I liked the job well enough; not too hard, fair money, reasonable hours – (four days a week and only during the day) and reasonable environment to work in.

But I wasn’t getting enough hours, couldn’t DO anything because I worked the weekend pretty much every weekend, and I couldn’t ethically live with myself for feeding people food like “stuff” when we should have been marketing / promoting the real food that was in the store or more household products (or just SOMETHING ELSE).

By the end of about two years that I worked as a demo girl, I went from eating slightly better than the average American to a developing health nut. Thanks for that. I might never have made this transition without that job.