Shopping at Wild Oats last night and I spy a nicely dressed older lady having a field day in the serve yourself olive bar, dipping her little plastic spoon into this container of roasted peppers, taking a bite, going back for another bite! That is so wrong!! THERE’S NO DOUBLE DIPPING AT THE OLIVE BAR!! Or at the produce… or the bulk candy section!
I immediately ratted her out to a store employee who seemed pretty non-plussed by the whole thing: “Yeah, we have to deal with her about once a week…” I did phone the manager and he said he was going to dump those peppers, but said it’s a problem they have to be constantly vigilent about.
What’s the world coming to!? What would you do? How would you get this woman to stop her freeloading and polluting the bulk offerings?
Let's eat
Responses to “EWWWWW! Part 2”
December 1st, 2005 at 3:43 pm
Depends on my mood and how old the offender is. I’d want to avoid embarrassing an elderly person because things were just different back in their day, but a younger person (this side of 50) who should know better would certainly get an earful!
December 1st, 2005 at 4:03 pm
And she would probably be the first to complain if she saw someone pinching the fruit. Go figure.
December 1st, 2005 at 5:01 pm
Send her over to Paris and let her pick up an apple at a stand. I made that mistake. Once.
I was part of a group at your favorite E Memphis meat market/restaurant last night and saw an employee run a little water over their hand (no soap) after using the facilities. Between that and the service we had, it doesn’t look like they’ve learned anything recently.
December 1st, 2005 at 7:51 pm
Bacteria weren’t invented in the last 30 years. People knew about them a long time ago too. I’d tell the manager and have him deal with it. He should explain to her that it is against health department regulations and that they’ll have to throw them all out or put themselves at risk for being shut down by the health department. If she does it again, make her pay for all of the contaminated food.
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:02 am
I, like Chris would walk up and say, “Did you just lick that spoon and put it back in there?”. Sorry, Charlie, the elderly are the first ones that need to be confronted because they’re just not thinking and yes they’d be the first ones to call you out should you bump them or get in their way. I’ve worked with them and for them. Just like children…tough love is often the only way to communicate.
As for Gregg’s situation…he didn’t elaborate but I can’t imagine him being called out for picking up an apple. The markets we go to in France are totally open air and everything’s there for the touching. We see everyone touching the bread, cheese, fruit/veggies and even the seafood and meat. They’d pick it up, smell it and put it back down. While we’re taken back, we’ve just decided that the intake of fine wine seems to take care of the germs/bacteria situation.
Recently a segment on The Today Show made me much more aware of germs. However, when we think of where we’ve put our hands and then touched our mouth or lips or in the heat of passion where we’ve put our tongue…well, who are we to call anyone out?
December 5th, 2005 at 10:59 am
What difference would it make how the person was dressed, their age, sex or nationality? Health issues are health issues. Are the employees at this store not trained on such matters? What’s the manager for? This is one reason alot of restaurants no longer serve “salad bars”. The manager (and owners) of this store need to contact the TN Dept of Health and have them come out and do a training seminar—they love to do these things. Now as far as how to handle the matter, (and especially since the comment was made that they have to “deal with her on a weekly basis”) is to go up to her “while she’s in the act” and ask how she’d like them to package the remainder? Should she balk or cause a scene others within earshot will appreciate the store doing the RIGHT THING. The employees do not need to raise their voices nor add to any “drama” but clearly remain calm and firm that this is NOT tolerated and she will have to pay for the remainder of the item.
December 5th, 2005 at 11:37 am
Don’t ask me how I know for a fact that this works. Next time you’re in a situation like that, muster up your chutzpah and take the following steps:
1. While the offender is enjoying a spoonful of delight, lick your fingers and rub them across the offenders spoon. Then smile.
2. The offender will look at you like you’ve lost your mind, then will reach for another. Offer to pass it to him or her but not before licking it. (Assuming that this is the kind of place that has disposable spoons.)
3. Usually, they get your point by now and walk off frustrated. Satisfied, you pull out your handy pocket sized hand sanitizer that you always take to the store with you and cleanse your hands before continuing to shop. And you pass the olive bar, you smile knowing that you would never purchase any due to the fact that these little things happen all the time and that management would rarely toss out in waste so much product. But at least you got a point across one offender at a time…
December 5th, 2005 at 12:52 pm
No happy medium here, huh? I miss the days when situations such as this were dealt with in a respectful manner, not with the intentions of making a public spectacle & example out of an elderly woman. While I think the woman should know better it’s obvious that she does not. Back in the day, and for those of us whose relatives are from the “country”, this woman could have been our own granny or great aunt. The employees of the establishment should have dealt with the situation promptly, when it first became an issue, but without humiliating the offender in a public manner. Christ, its not like she was driving drunk or making lewd gestures at children. Those are the situations that warrant making a spectacle of someone.
December 6th, 2005 at 10:37 am
The fact that her nastiness is a once a week occurance negates any tact or respect this woman should recieve. She should be called out and it should be loud. She should be embarassed and then banned from the store. Old does not equal absolved.
On Sunday I was in a line at LAX. An older Asian man was in front of me and coughed on my mother and me a couple of times before I said “Sir, could you please cover your mouth when you cough?”. The man’s son yelled, “Do not talk to my father that way. He deservers to be respected.” Needless to say, I was amazed.
No one deserves anyone elses mouth germs regardless of age or culture.
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