Grocery Store Atrocities

Eating straight from the salad bar, munching on a bag of chips with the same hands that are pushing the shopping cart and snacking on unwashed berries from the produce section are just three of the behaviors I see all too regularly when I’m doing my twice weekly grocery shop.

And it’s not little kids doing this- if it were, it would be at least somewhat more appropriate for the age, but still hopefully something that their parent would reprimand.

I’m talking about adults.   Not sure if it’s a mere function of just not thinking about what they’re doing, but it’s sure an easy way to pick up and spread bacteria, virus and yes, I’ll say it…germs.

While I’m not a germaphobe (Ok, I do have a rather strong penchant for cleanliness), this type of thing is just gross.

I wish I hadn’t seen an elderly lady make her way around the salad bar with a fork at the local Whole Foods, for no other reason than I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to report it to one of the cooks who was standing by and happened to have seen it, too;  every single dish of food she’d tried was subsequently thrown away for risk of contamination.

It’s already pushing it to take bites of things from the fridge at home that others might want some of (or even if it’s just you- the bacteria we all have in our mouths does not do nice things to foods it touches), but to do that in public?  Yikes!

What about all the unwashed hands that have touched the shopping cart or sneezes that have landed on serving spoons at the salad bar which are going straight into one’s mouth?

What are people thinking?  Or not thinking?

Is washing one’s hands and food that tricky?

Ok, done ranting…for now.