Three in a Row!

This is the third day in a row that I've posted. Are you scared yet? muahahahaha!

No pictures tonight, though. Judy and I were out shopping for a good chunk of the afternoon - ugh. Now, I don't mind the "fun" shopping. For example, we made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up the new Def Leppard DVD, and to look at cases for the new camera. There were two DVDs left - and there were two of us. Must have been meant to be... (cue Twilight Zone music) There were several camera bags, but none that overly thrilled me.

Then we hit a nearby dollar store and had fun wandering around there. And yes, we both ended up spending money. We really HAVE to stop going into the dollar stores...

On we went to Staples, so Judy could mail some parcels. No, Staples doesn't do mail, but this particular one has a postal outlet in it. So don't all go running to your nearest Staples until you've ascertained if they have a postal outlet or not! Anyhow, I checked the camera bags in Staples, and was quite disgusted with the meagre assortment, and the poor quality of what was there. They sell some fairly expensive cameras there, so I would expect that they would also sell bags that will adequately protect them. Apparently that's too high of an expectation.

In spite of the lack of camera bags, those excursions were quite enjoyable. However, the "non-fun" shopping was about to follow.

On to SuperStore, for the dreaded grocery shopping. I would not mind grocery shopping, except for the fact that the majority of customers in the grocery stores seem to feel it's mandatory to turn into rude assholes in order to do their shopping. Now, I was raised to say "excuse me" if I needed to get past someone, and to say "thank you" when they moved for me. It is pathetically obvious that people are not raised that way anymore, and haven't been for the past generation. I am sick to death of people shoving by my, cutting me off, barging in front of me to the shelf I am just about to pick something up off of, etc., etc.

After getting highly irritated by all the rude assholes, I then get quite perturbed by looking in the produce section. The prices are fairly high. That would tick me off to begin with, but if the produce was edible, I could live with it. However, when a good chunk of the produce is already starting to rot, and they are still demanding the same high price for it, I get really ticked. Take the tomatoes we saw today, for example. There were some that were underripe, but most of them were overripe to the point of being rotten. Many had black, mushy spots on them, and the ones that didn't yet have signs of rot were still too far gone to even consider eating.

Not too many years ago, the produce that was too ripe to eat would have been pulled off the shelves and thrown out. In fact, it would have been removed before it got to that point, and been donated to the Food Bank while it was still edible. Things that were a bit questionable but still saleable were significantly marked down in price. These days, produce that is rotting and sporting obvious signs of decay is left in the bins, and the consumers are expected to buy it at the regular high price and be damned happy to have it.

This consumer will not be happy to have it, nor will she remotely consider paying for it. Hell, they couldn't even pay ME to take the rotting garbage off their hands. What on would possess them to even think that anyone would buy that crap?

Oooh, and I almost forgot about the cheese. Judy pointed out a package of shredded cheese to me. The cheese was moldy. Not just a wee spot of mold. I'm talking enough penicillin to vaccinate everyone in Canada. Okay, maybe Alberta. Oh all right, maybe a small rural town in Alberta. Fine, so it's not the same kind of mold that penicillin is made out of. But you know what I mean, so don't try and tell me you don't!

Anyhow, the point is that there was a LOT of mold in the package, and it was still parked on the shelf waiting to be sold at the regular high price. There is no way in hell the employees didn't know it was full of mold. Those mold spores have been having an orgy in that package for several days - probably a week or so. There is absolutely no way anyone could have missed it.

Now, when I worked in a grocery store, we had to check all the produce on a daily basis. Anything that had the slightest bruise on it was taken off the shelves. At least once a week the packaged meats, cheeses, etc. were checked for expiry dates and for any sign of deterioration. The least speck of mold - or even a suspicion of mold - was grounds for immediate removal of the product from the shelves. Anything past its expiry date was also removed. All other products in the store were also regularly checked for expiry dates, and removed if they were past them. Canned goods were frequently checked too. Anything that was dented or that just didn't look quite right (rust, any suspicion of a bulge, etc.) was immediately removed. The main concern was that customers were getting what they paid for - fresh produce and dairy products, and other products in the best condition possible.

These days I find things being sold that are right at the expiry date, are moldy, rotten, dried out - and don't even get me started on the state of many of the canned goods that I find on the shelves! It disgusts me that stores are now more concerned about the almighty dollar than they are about their customers.

Hmm, this ended up being an unplanned rant, didn't it? hehehehehehe

The good news is that we finally got out of the damned grocery store, and they also happened to have a camera case that is most suitable to protect my new baby. Plus we had a very tasty dinner - we stopped at Burger King on the way home to try out the new Shroom and Swiss Angus Beef Burger. I would highly recommend it, especially if you've never had Angus Beef before. Absolutely delicious!

Well, I'm wiped, so I think I'm going to head to bed with a good book. Hopefully my little rant made some sort of sense - being so pooped God only knows what it came out sounding like! Have a wonderful night, and sweet dreams everyone!