European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                July 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 is free the human touch by Joe Mapother Bremerhaven Bureau chief Germany the on room commis sary Annex resembles an old fashioned general but without a potbellied the serving scores of Remote Sites scattered across the surrounding lacks Many of the items found in its Parent outlet in but that Doest Stop Ingrid Engstrom and her Crew of one full time employee and four part timers from adding the Little human touches designed to save the customer Money and go beyond simply special ordering what is not on the where else is word of a special order arrival gotten to the customer by a clerk recognizing another shopper from the same neck of the Woods and asking him or her to pass the word How Many commissary cos would not Only Spe Cia lorder plantains a banana like Staple of the tropics but also take the time to visit with the woman ordering the fruit to find out How it is cooked in puerto Rico Are there Many commissaries where Well behaved children Are offered lollipops paid for by the employees and where the three Community kids allergic to food colouring Are known to the staff and kept away from the sweets probably Call it extra treatment or Call it special but these people dont have said Many of the military families using the commissary Are based at Sites manned by 20 to 25 she an television and other support services often Are so Engstrom goes the extra Shes made our tour a lot More said Mary Wright of Wrights air Force Hus band is the Only f4 Pilot stationed with a German fighter bomber group based about one hour North of the Muenster this is the highlight of our week coming Down and talking to said with her Billy and in several shoppers credited angstroms arrival two years ago As the turning Point for the tiny the number of items carried has More than there Are new shelves and a new and the building has been sales volume is not All of these changes can be wholly credited to nor Are they the real Story of what has happened to an operation that some customers who remember described As a once our facility Strong on bruised although total sales topped in May and a goal of has been Engstrom and company Are hard at work making that goal a Little harder to leaning against a Wall in the commissary office is a Chart of cuts of beef and their locations on the Engstrom uses the Chart to offer advice on whether a dozen porterhouse steaks is really the route to or whether a cheaper Cut will fill the same Why go to the expensive cuts go to a cheaper Cut it All comes from the same is her we want the people to save said Engs it is not a statement guaranteed to boost commissary individually tagging Coupon items with the discount sticker is a practice that started during a Coupon Days promotion in Engstrom staff members came in on their own time to tape the discount slips where the promotion brought in an average of 300 coupons she and the practice has continued staff members want customers to save on one Day of just about every Engstrom can be found prowling the aisles of the Giessen commis sary to see whats new on the main commissary her customers at the Annex also keep Engs trom abreast of the appearance of new any customer that wants to try anything that Giessen Well try said if it it if the customer always has the option of buying enough to keep the item on the order Engstrom for Bettyjo that policy Means that the Annex now stocks Texas style hot Korea born Kay records was using so Many Little bottles of soy sauce that she decided to come in and ask for the gallon she got on the bulletin Board next to angstroms desk is a letter from another it tells of the Day the embarrassed Patron came up a dime Short at the checkout counter and How grateful the customer was that Engstrom reached into her own pocket for the missing Engstrom still has the dime that was included with the this is what keeps me she fingering the special German tour overwhelms 2 gis by de Reavis staff writer Bonn How do you like my country defense minister Manfred Woerner asked the two gis in his office it was the same question Woerner had asked 4 Rosalina Alvarez in an american dining facility in Gies sen in when he and defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger were reviewing american i was seated next to Woerner and we started Alvarez he asked me How i liked Ger and i told him i haunt had a Chance to see much of it he then said he would make sure that i got a tour of part of the i want sure if he was serious or but a month later i received the invitation in the Alvarez said she was hesitant about accepting the but her friends told her shed be a fool to decline the they declining would be an insult to a High ranking German Alvarez picked 2 Desiree Blake to go with both Are assigned to the 4th 3rd air defense arty in my first sergeant said it had to be a and what the first sergeant you Woerner assigned a German army Nikolaus to guide the two and offered the use of his private Bow for the Turner opting for one of his fathers cars a the Trio began the tour in Wuerzburg and travelled to Rothenburg of Der Gar the Ettal Benedictine Linderhof Heidelberg and Eltz Castle among other they also took a Rhein River on the Germany highest new yorker Alvarez taught texan Blake How to make a Alvarez and Blake said they were overwhelmed by All they i expected the castles to be cobweb filled buildings like in the Dracula Alvarez neither was impressed with the fairytale Castle of Ludwig ii of but both were enthralled with nym Henburg Castle in that surprised but he said it showed Superior they were also impressed by the bavarian National i think it shows the germans have a lot of Pride in their Alvarez they said they could have used a Little More time for and they did a lot of which they we rent used we picked up some German words on this but we think we did better teaching Nikolaus american Blake Alvarez and Blake discovered what most travellers in Germany discover the natives Are you can drink the water but the Beer is the landscape is photo by Dave Zidlo 2 Desiree Blake left and 4 Rosalina Alvarez visit with defense minister Manfred predominantly the churches and cathedrals mar the cakes and ice Cream addicting and the time always too after the Woerner presented Alvarez and Blake with gift books and took them to his Bungalow on the defense department grounds for a round of drinks and to talk about their a Jet Pilot in the German had just returned from a trying session with a group of poli the life of a Woerner be thankful you have an honorable he told Al Varez and who spoke some Spanish with talked briefly with the women about German Ernest Hemingway writings on bullfighting a subject that fascinates him rafting in the grand and his recent today scaling of mount Woerner near after the both women were impressed that Woerner had taken More than an hour from his schedule to meet with fresh from the meeting and cradling autographed pictures taken by the official German Al Varez its an experience ill never