Vegiworks, do you care as little about vegetables as you do people?

Getting a little personal this morning, Fishwrappers.

In December, my car was heavily damaged by a Vegiworks delivery truck in San Francisco. The driver of said truck opened his door into the side of my car as I was passing. The saga that has ensued has made me pensive about things like honor, honesty, and ethics. And whether anyone has such values anymore. And whether when a business fails to exercise honor, or honesty, or ethics, in one aspect of their activities, one can infer that they will fail to do so elsewhere. I think one can.

In the case of Vegiworks of San Francisco, what seems to be simply an underhanded, dishonest and oh-god-can-I-save-my-own-unethical-ass-at-the-expense-of-another-person approach to a traffic accident has made me judge the entire company and their vegetable delivery services, even though the two things aren’t directly related. Let me explain what I mean.

Vegiworks claims to be a “full-serivce [sic], customer-oriented produce company specializing in a complete line of fresh fruit and vegetables.” They claim to service many of the most highly-acclaimed restaurants in the Bay Area, providing “assistance in all aspects of produce selection, pricing, and preparation.” And they state that their mission is to “provide the best service and the highest quality produce.”

What’s the common thread to all these statements, other than the delivery of super fine organic produce, legumes, fruits and nuts? It’s service. That’s a good branding decision for a company that services the food service industry. Yet if I were a restaurant owner instead of a fat, lazy blogger, I’d question how well a company can actually provide service to my business if they demonstrate a lack of basic human decency in the way they treat the general public, or if they attempt to deny accountability and responsibility for their actions, or if they try to screw over the little guy, to use a technical term.

The fact is, there are plenty of places from which a restaurant can get fresh produce. Reputable establishments, CSAs, and supporters of locavorism like Eatwell Farm (our local farm and organic vegetable delivery of choice at L’Emballage du Poisson), Full Belly Farm, Terra Firma Farms, Twin Girls Farm, Riverdog Farm, or Mariquita Farm all provide and deliver vegetables and produce of at least as high quality as Vegiworks.

Produce itself is a commodity in places like San Francisco where there are so many options for fresh, delicious produce and legumes. Even cabbages.

What sets a company (or farm if you want to go the really responsible route) apart from the pack is service. How they treat people. Whether they care about you, and your restaurant, and your livelihood. Whether or not they are responsible stewards of your money. What people say when they review you. Whether professional produce delivery reviews say good things about you or not. It’s about more than the cabbages, after all.

To me, a company that tries to shirk its responsibilities for a traffic accident is a company I would not trust with my own business needs.

Now, the Fishwrapper can tell you that even though he’s older than the hills, he’s one of the best drivers around. But even he has been responsible for an accident before (out of the five he’s been in). When he blew it, he sucked it up, paid for the repairs of the other vehicle, and moved on. Just like two of the four people who were responsible for other accidents did when they were at fault.

Of the two who tried to deny responsibility, one was a shyster personal injury lawyer in Chicago who had no insurance. We all know these guys are dishonest snake oil salesmen, so in this case the Fishwrapper was not surprised that this uninsured, coked-up bum tried to weasel out of responsibility for rear-ending the Fishwrapper’s fine auto.

But Vegiworks seems on the surface to be a responsible corporate citizen. Yet they are acting just like the shyster attorney from Chicago. And that’s why I started thinking, “Hey, this kind of crap says something about this company’s lack of values. I should bring this to light on teh interwebs.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. This Fishwrapper dude is kind of a hothead. How do we know this accident is as cut and dry as he claims? That’s good of you to be skeptical. I respect anyone with the free time to read my drivel, so I will tell you the undisputed parts of my claim:

1. The Vegiworks delivery vehicle was parked illegally, directly in front of a “No Stopping” sign.
2. The Vegiworks delivery vehicle was parked on the wrong side of the road, with the truck halfway on the sidewalk (also not legal) and halfway in the road, blocking traffic.
3. The accident occurred at low speed on a one-way road with cars parked (legally) on the other side, and barely enough room to squeeze through if a big, ugly delivery truck is blocking the road by being parked illegally on the wrong side of it.
4. The driver of the Vegiworks delivery truck opened his door into the *side* of my car as I drove past.
5. There is indisputable photographic proof of all of the above.

There’s no doubt that this is a very cut-and-dry case. And I am certain that the good folks at State Farm are going to successfully demonstrate that Vegiworks is full of shit to suggest that there’s any possibility of this being the fault of the Fishwrapper.

But all that makes me wonder - why waste the time and resources of two insurance companies, get me all pissed off, and otherwise make a nuisance of yourself if you know you are going to get nailed? Why is Vegiworks trying to pull off this BS?

The only answer I can come up with is that they’re throwing the hail mary pass here, just lobbing up a desperation move on the off chance that somehow they can weasel out of their financial responsibility and not take the heat for having incompetent drivers who are violating traffic laws in the course of doing business.

To me, you’ve got to know that you are a giant asshole to attempt a move like this. And to me, you also have to not care if everyone can see that you are a giant asshole. I think you have got to be someone who simply doesn’t care how unethical and underhanded you look by trying to save yourself a quick buck…or that you are counting on the person you are trying to screw over not having a blog that’s devoted to ranting about horrible, unethical companies.

You may disagree, but if I owned a restaurant in San Francisco, I’d read something like this and think twice about what kind of experience I’d likely have if I hired Vegiworks and they ever screwed up an order or mine, or delivered spoiled food, or made some other kind of mistake. To me, it would be clear that Vegiworks wouldn’t apologize and fix the situation, but would simply try to come up with excuses and refuse to do their corporate duty.

That’s why whether you are an individual or a restaurant, the Fishwrapper suggests that you look elsewhere for your produce delivery than Vegiworks.

And hey, start with the list of CSAs above if you want to go with community supported agriculture CSA and really support local produce.

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