I have been coming to this seasonal lot (or another one of the Severt lots in the area) since 2014, and have gotten some really nice trees from there. They have always been pretty good and even are willing to negotiate a small discount off the listed prices. In all those years, I really only had one experience that wasn't necessarily bad, but wasn't good, and that experience was simply due to a poor drilling into the bottom of the trunk, that resulted in my tree being very crooked on the stand. I was able to rectify that well enough by propping up one side of the stand with cardboard box sleeves folded over.
And then came 2020. Before I even exited the car, I noticed nobody was wearing masks. I don't care if you are outside or not, in the middle of a pandemic, at it's very peak, when 2000+ people died of COVID-19 the very day I arrived at the lot, and we are definitely interacting at close distances, I expect employees to wear a mask at all times. I wore one from the moment I exited my car until I got back in my car to leave. Only 2 of the 5 or 6 people even had masks around their necks (which obviously does no good). Those 2 people did pull them up from time to time, and the gentleman that prepped my tree did keep it pulled up while he was around me. That was appreciated. I had to actively avoid others that were not wearing their masks. There is just no excuse at this point in the pandemic to not wear one when you are around other people. They shouldn't be political statements.
But would you believe that was not the worst thing about my visit there? I had just decided on the tree that I was going to purchase, and was waiting for the gentleman to come over to prep the tree for me. An old man named Hank (who I had a somewhat friendly conversation with just a few mins earlier) comes back over and starts talking to me again. He had a very thick Alabama southern accent so it was difficult to understand him, and wasn't sure I had heard him correctly the first time. I asked him to please say that again. It turns out, I did understand him the first time, and was just shocked as hell at what he said. A mixed race couple, with two mixed race kids, had just come to browse the tree lot and left. He told me he wanted to put a "bullet between their eyes" because he doesn't agree with that. And then he goes on to tell me how Jesus and the bible frown on it. I'm not sure what church he goes to, but that is about the most backwoods ignorant thing I've heard someone try to say to Jesus-vindicate their racist, bigoted beliefs. I actually have been in more than one mixed race relationship in the past, and actually have mixed race family members. That was extremely offensive and shocking to hear. Keep your ignorant comments to yourself or save them for your klan get togethers.
Although it would be a fair assumption to rationalize that like-minded people may be working together there, I didn't want to jump to the conclusion that anyone else there had that same viewpoint. The positive experiences I have had there in the past, mixed with the fact the nicer gentleman was already prepping my tree, and finally the fact that it was getting late and I wanted to be going home with a tree, kept me from walking out on the spot. I simply walked away from the racist old man in mid sentence, and hoped i didn't get a gunshot in the back for being accepting of non-white skinned people. When I go back next year, I will go out of my way to bounce around to a few of the area Severts lots. If I see Hank working there still, I will have no choice but to find another place to purchase my Christmas trees moving forward. A company that hires people like that and keeps them employed, means that company agrees with people like that, and I will not support that type of company. read more