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PSA about untaped bakery boxes


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So in an effort to continue to distract myself, I am going to post about something the kids and I saw at the grocery store. We were at a very large grocery store that has a section in the back for markdown produce and bakery products. We swung through and picked up a box of day old danishes. While perusing the other selections, we saw a woman open up the remaining boxes, and shift the danishes around until she had a box full of the flavors that she wanted. Then closed the boxes up and put them back. My son was in utter shock. Good thing we had already gotten our box. He was insisting kind of loudly that we go find an employee and tell them about her, I was trying to be quiet about it so not to make a scene with the lady. We found an employee walking past the section and told her what we saw. She just kind of looked at me. So I reiterated that the lady had TOUCHED a bunch of the danishes and then closed them back up. The employee just kind of kept looking at me. My son was determined that someone do something about this so he said to the lady "Look, I'll show you where the boxes are." and the lady kind of followed him, stood there looking at the boxes of danishes, looking at us and just standing there. At this time my toddler started fighting with his sister and I had to walk over to the cart to head this off. The employee then just walked away, leaving the boxes the lady had rifled through, there on the racks. Is it just me or is that kind of gross? From now on, we are only buying bakery boxes that are taped shut. In hind sight, I wish I had persued it with a manager, but it was the first time we had ever been in this store, and it was overwhelmingly huge. For anyone in my neck of the woods, it is the new Jungle Jim's store and it was packed and my little kids were tired and ready to go, but I really kind of wish I persued it for the good of the people coming after me. What surprised me though was that I was the only one who tried to do something about it. I sent them an email a little while ago suggesting that they tape their boxes shut.

Edited by saraha
Sent an email to the store
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This will have to go in my "WTH is wrong with people?!" file. I'd write a letter to a manager there, or go higher up if necessary. That's disgusting.

 

ETA: The more I'm thinking about it, though, I'm wondering about the packaging of the things I buy that are like that. Now I'm going to have to check every single time. And I'm no germophobe, in general!

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Ewww! There's no "kind of" about it. It's gross. I think I would have been tempted to track down a manager after the clerk was that non-responsive.

 

:iagree::iagree: And if the manager doesn't do anything I'd call the county health officer - that is a HUGE violation of health codes

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I would write a letter to the store manager and the main or regional office. Tell them what you saw and ask how they can avoid this in the future. They don't have control over the customers, of course, but leaving stuff open like that just invites people to do nasty things.

 

I'd like to think I would have confronted the woman as she was rifling through the boxes, but I doubt I would have.

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Reminds of a lady I saw last week rifling through all of the bags of organic grapes, hand pick which bunches she wanted and put them in one bag, while tossing the other pilfered bags right back. Never occured to me that one would do that. I usually lift each bag and try to pick the best one...but don't handpick from ALL the bags :glare:

 

Not exactly the same as your Danishes as the grape bags are already partially opened, nonetheless still quite gross for those that came along and bought grapes and then didn't wash them before eating (which I am guilty of when I forget.)

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I'd ask for a bigger mark down but I'd still eat them. :D

 

Heh. I can just see the labels on that shelf. "Day Old: 10% off." "Day Old and Fondled: 15% off."

 

Really, though. Who thinks that's even remotely acceptable? At least have the good grace to be sneaky about it.

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Oh how gross! I think they just opened, so I wonder if the employee didn't have a clue what to do? You'd think they wouldn't want people sticking extra stuff into boxes, even beyond the gross factor.

 

 

Yeah, they just opened last week. It was really cool! Definitely worth the trip. Dont buy the day old baked goods though :ack2:

I sent them an email outlining what happened and suggested they tape the boxes closed.

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Reminds of a lady I saw last week rifling through all of the bags of organic grapes, hand pick which bunches she wanted and put them in one bag, while tossing the other pilfered bags right back. Never occured to me that one would do that. I usually lift each bag and try to pick the best one...but don't handpick from ALL the bags :glare:

 

Not exactly the same as your Danishes as the grape bags are already partially opened, nonetheless still quite gross for those that came along and bought grapes and then didn't wash them before eating (which I am guilty of when I forget.)

 

Grapes or produce are different, though. The customer is expected to touch it, to pick out what is wanted. The customer also expects to wash the produce at home.

 

The customer does NOT expect to wash pastry, though.

 

Organic grapes are expensive. It didn't occur to me that one could pick out one's own customized bunch of grapes, but I have no issue with someone who does so.

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Grapes or produce are different, though. The customer is expected to touch it, to pick out what is wanted. The customer also expects to wash the produce at home.

 

The customer does NOT expect to wash pastry, though.

 

Organic grapes are expensive. It didn't occur to me that one could pick out one's own customized bunch of grapes, but I have no issue with someone who does so.

 

I agree. I've seen plenty of people sorting through produce cartons. It's unfair to expect customers to pay for rotten fruit.

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Grapes or produce are different, though. The customer is expected to touch it, to pick out what is wanted. The customer also expects to wash the produce at home.

 

The customer does NOT expect to wash pastry, though.

 

Organic grapes are expensive. It didn't occur to me that one could pick out one's own customized bunch of grapes, but I have no issue with someone who does so.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Besides, grapes are touched by the people who pick/sort/pack them. They're too fragile to be picked/sorted/packed by machines.

 

We once saw someone looking at each bunch of bananas and picking the best ones then putting those in a bag to purchase. Who even thinks to do that?

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Former bakery worker here....

 

If they were packaged from the self serve case and placed into boxes, they were likely handled by other people before she did it. Only about half of the people who get items out of the self serve case use the wrappers to serve themselves.

 

Yes, if someone mentioned it, I would toss them, but unless she was licking her fingers or taking a bite out of them, they would be the same as getting them from the self serve case.

 

Grapes: touching produce is expected. The produce department workers move produce around between the bags all the time.

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Grapes or produce are different, though. The customer is expected to touch it, to pick out what is wanted. The customer also expects to wash the produce at home.

 

The customer does NOT expect to wash pastry, though.

 

Organic grapes are expensive. It didn't occur to me that one could pick out one's own customized bunch of grapes, but I have no issue with someone who does so.

 

Apparently at the stores near me they do not expect customers to pick out their produce. The last time I was in the grocery store, I was surprised to see a sign saying something along the lines of "For the sake of everyone's health, please do *not* to sort through the grapes and rebag them. If you would like a smaller portion, please find an employee to rebag it for you." :001_huh:

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Apparently at the stores near me they do not expect customers to pick out their produce. The last time I was in the grocery store, I was surprised to see a sign saying something along the lines of "For the sake of everyone's health, please do *not* to sort through the grapes and rebag them. If you would like a smaller portion, please find an employee to rebag it for you." :001_huh:

Well, I don't think there's a health concern there. Most produce gets touched and then should be washed before consumption. I think the store wants to "encourage" people to buy a predetermined quantity, that often includes mushy or moldy grapes. I think it's improper to rifle through sealed / nearly sealed boxes, such as 1 lb strawberry containers, to select the best strawberries. Deciding you don't need 3.5 lbs of grapes but only want one bunch seems totally different. They are sold by weight, not "1 bag of grapes for $3" pricing. Rearranging danishes in a box with dirty hands is an entirely different matter. Employees are supposed to handle such things. I've noticed several stores near me have switched over to pre-boxed bulk items, instead of the scoop-it-yourself method. Seems much cleaner to me. Unfortunately it means you have to buy the set quantity.

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Reminds of a lady I saw last week rifling through all of the bags of organic grapes, hand pick which bunches she wanted and put them in one bag, while tossing the other pilfered bags right back. Never occured to me that one would do that. I usually lift each bag and try to pick the best one...but don't handpick from ALL the bags :glare:

 

 

Well, I guess I'm one of "those" people because I do it all the time with grapes. I only like the ones on the lighter green vines because they're fresher, so I will pick a bunch out of several bags and combine them into one.

 

We once saw someone looking at each bunch of bananas and picking the best ones then putting those in a bag to purchase. Who even thinks to do that?

 

My mother does this. She wants "an assortment of ripeness" so she picks single bananas off bunches in as large a range of ripeness as possible so she'll have a fresh one every day. I think it's a little weird, but I guess I see her reasoning.

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OP- I live about 15mins from the new Jungle Jims. I havent checked it out yet. Now ill go back there to the bakery and be like " so this is what she meant!" :)

 

That is gross though and would of said something to her.

 

I didn't think it was as cool as the original, and they don't have everything set up completely yet, but my kids had never been to the original and were totally blown away by it. We ended up picking up cookies that were from Turkey, Japan and Denmark so we could have a taste testing. Cookies were the only things they found safe to try:lol:

 

I do wish they would put out samples in the fruit dept. though, since there are a ton of fruits we had never heard of. A produce guy did walk up next to us to stock some weird fruit and saw us looking at something and cut one open for us to try. That was nice, but I definitely think samples would go a long way into encouraging people to buy some of the more exotic and expensive produce. Or signs that told you how to prepare things. Maybe I need to send them another email!

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I never even thought about doing that with produce! I always just pick up each bag and pick the one that has the best looking fruit in it. I guess I just always buy what they set out for me!

 

Well, I don't see most produce coming prebagged, only quantities sold by volume/weight (like boxes of berries or 3 lbs of carrots) or in bunches (greens, herbs). But most everything else (green beans, okra, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, sweet potatoes, loose apples and bananas, corn,...) are sitting there for me to bag based on how much I want to buy. Except in some stores, esp Asian stores, where there are styrofoam trays that have been wrapped up and have the price listed. I wouldn't open these up, or the prebagged, by volume type of produce, such as 3 lbs of potatoes. I don't feel compelled to keep cherries or grapes in the giant quantity they premeasure, and I have never had anyone suggest this is strange. I would just grab a bunch and wouldn't feel bad to pick out any rotten ones, and put them in my own bag.

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Well, I don't think there's a health concern there. Most produce gets touched and then should be washed before consumption. I think the store wants to "encourage" people to buy a predetermined quantity, that often includes mushy or moldy grapes. I think it's improper to rifle through sealed / nearly sealed boxes, such as 1 lb strawberry containers, to select the best strawberries. Deciding you don't need 3.5 lbs of grapes but only want one bunch seems totally different. They are sold by weight, not "1 bag of grapes for $3" pricing. Rearranging danishes in a box with dirty hands is an entirely different matter. Employees are supposed to handle such things. I've noticed several stores near me have switched over to pre-boxed bulk items, instead of the scoop-it-yourself method. Seems much cleaner to me. Unfortunately it means you have to buy the set quantity.

I agree that it probably isn't really a health concern, especially when I think about how much produce we've gotten there that has been bad. I just thought it was interesting that they had a sign up saying not to touch the grapes due to health concerns, but people can still touch other produce, bakery items, etc.

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I agree that it probably isn't really a health concern, especially when I think about how much produce we've gotten there that has been bad. I just thought it was interesting that they had a sign up saying not to touch the grapes due to health concerns, but people can still touch other produce, bakery items, etc.

 

Most stores will split packages of cheese, candy, macaroni salad, etc. Pretty much any container that the store weighed and labeled in house can be split. Fininding someone to do it for you is another matter....

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Grapes or produce are different, though. The customer is expected to touch it, to pick out what is wanted. The customer also expects to wash the produce at home.

 

 

I'm glad you said this. I just wrote a post saying the same thing, but deleted it. :tongue_smilie: I often remove grapes from a bag and stick them in another bag, mostly because I don't want to buy so many, and they are sold by the pound.

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If you would like a smaller portion, please find an employee to rebag it for you." :001_huh:

 

LOL. I wonder if the employees sanitize their hands first. I remember when grapes were just put out in a bin, and everybody could help themselves. Same with cherries. I think it's part of a marketing campaign to get people to buy larger portions. I bet people buy more when they are prepackaged in identical, big heavy bags.

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LOL. I wonder if the employees sanitize their hands first. I remember when grapes were just put out in a bin, and everybody could help themselves. Same with cherries. I think it's part of a marketing campaign to get people to buy larger portions. I bet people buy more when they are prepackaged in identical, big heavy bags.

:iagree:Yep, when I was a kid they were loose. And you could pick around the spoiled ones.

 

I will sort through bananas and pull off individual ones. I don't think it's strange at all!

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Huh, I didn't realize it was s common to rebag the fruits/veggies already bagged . Apples, bananas, etc that I get when they are out in the open. That display is meant for self-bagging. But this customer was opening several bags of grapes, taking out this bunch, putting that bunch in this bag, moving this bunch here. Lots of handling. Is that really the norm?

 

Funny, me who usually thinks most rules of that sort are pish-posh, all these years following some unwritten rule I apparently made up myself about grapes in bags. :tongue_smilie:

 

Learn something new everyday!

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I do pick out a variety of ripeness of bananas. It always annoys me when I go to feed DD a banana and there are too many overripe bananas. So I get a couple that are ripe, and a couple that are almost ripe, so they will last for a bit longer.

 

I do the same thing with grapes as a couple other PP mentioned. I will normally take a bunch of two out of a separate bag (usually the same one though, not separate) and rebag it into a separate bag. Typically just because I don't want the ~3-5lb of grapes they bag together.

 

I have seen people picking through pastries/donuts before too at the day-old rack. This was at WalMart though, where the behavior, is well, expected. :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh, the joys of produce. My DH used to work in the produce dept. so he is my go-to produce expert (and the reason we will never ever get produce from a Walmart again! :auto:)

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I do wish they would put out samples in the fruit dept. though, since there are a ton of fruits we had never heard of. A produce guy did walk up next to us to stock some weird fruit and saw us looking at something and cut one open for us to try. That was nice, but I definitely think samples would go a long way into encouraging people to buy some of the more exotic and expensive produce. Or signs that told you how to prepare things. Maybe I need to send them another email!

 

That is a good idea! Suggest it!

 

and i touched apples tonight at Walmart. They had them in those paper bags but i only needed 6 not a whole bag full. I touched them and laid them in the bin. :tongue_smilie:

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What happened in the OP is gross, but not surprising to me. I could see that happening in my neck of the woods, unfortunately. People either don't think or are extremely self-absorbed or both.

 

Just over the weekend, we splurged on takeout from a brand new Red Robin restaurant for my MIL's birthday, and we had an "eww, gross" incident. The server brought our order and another man's order out at the same time, but apparently got them mixed up because she was quite flustered. She told all of us to open all of the containers to see if we had each others' orders. :confused: What made it gross was that we had to actually stick our hands and fingers into these cardboard slots on the food packaging to open each order, so the potential was high for us to end up putting our hands on the food. No one but the server was comfortable with this, of course, so I complained to management about this (and other issues -- it took an hour and change to get a fairly simple order!). The manager actually made a face when I told him. We ended up with our meal half off, but more importantly, I hope the server learns that you don't ask customers to put their hands in other people's food!

 

FWIW re: produce... It would never occur to me to take grapes out of a bag and switch them for better ones. Just pick the bag that looks best.

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FWIW re: produce... It would never occur to me to take grapes out of a bag and switch them for better ones. Just pick the bag that looks best.

 

it's not about "best" for me or the other members who have posted. It's that you are supposed to buy a huge (expensive) amount, instead of the amount you want. I don't pick through them; I lift out one or two bunches. I have never seen grapes priced by the bag; they are sold by weight. I have never had anyone look even vaguely out out or tell me I cannot purchase a smaller quantity of grapes.

 

This is totally different from shuffling around cookies or muffins.

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I'm glad you said this. I just wrote a post saying the same thing, but deleted it. :tongue_smilie: I often remove grapes from a bag and stick them in another bag, mostly because I don't want to buy so many, and they are sold by the pound.

I've never thought about doing this but now I will. We never eat all the grapes in the bag. I don't buy them anymore because so many go to waste. Now I know I can put a small bit in a separate bag. Cool. So like a regular produce bag that one would put apples in?

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If produce is by the pound, I have no problem whatsoever with rebagging what I want. People are expected to wash their produce at home before they eat it, and I'm not willing to pay for the less fresh stuff.

 

I would inform the store manager about the bakery box digging. That is a violation of health codes. Clearly the staff member did not see any problem with it. It reminds me of the waitress that took a used dish of salsa from a table that was just cleared, filled it to the top from a pitcher, and set it on our table...and had no idea what we were so freaked out about.

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Yep. I just lift some out and put in another bag. They are priced by their weight.

 

:iagree:

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but at our store the pre-bagged produce bags have the price code printed on them, so the checkout person doesn't have to memorize or look up the code. Or ask you what it is first. :tongue_smilie:

 

I have no problem with people picking the specific produce they want to buy.

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I do pick out a variety of ripeness of bananas. It always annoys me when I go to feed DD a banana and there are too many overripe bananas. So I get a couple that are ripe, and a couple that are almost ripe, so they will last for a bit longer.

 

I do the same thing with grapes as a couple other PP mentioned. I will normally take a bunch of two out of a separate bag (usually the same one though, not separate) and rebag it into a separate bag. Typically just because I don't want the ~3-5lb of grapes they bag together.

 

I have seen people picking through pastries/donuts before too at the day-old rack. This was at WalMart though, where the behavior, is well, expected. :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh, the joys of produce. My DH used to work in the produce dept. so he is my go-to produce expert (and the reason we will never ever get produce from a Walmart again! :auto:)

 

Why not?

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I've never thought about doing this but now I will. We never eat all the grapes in the bag. I don't buy them anymore because so many go to waste. Now I know I can put a small bit in a separate bag. Cool. So like a regular produce bag that one would put apples in?

 

Either that, or I look for the smallest bag that has reasonable grapes, and then take out enough to get the quantity I want.

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Huh, I didn't realize it was s common to rebag the fruits/veggies already bagged .

 

I do the same thing with grapes as a couple other PP mentioned. I will normally take a bunch of two out of a separate bag (usually the same one though, not separate) and rebag it into a separate bag. Typically just because I don't want the ~3-5lb of grapes they bag together.

 

:iagree: I've done the same and no one at the store seemed bothered by it.

 

Oh, the joys of produce. My DH used to work in the produce dept. so he is my go-to produce expert (and the reason we will never ever get produce from a Walmart again! :auto:)

 

Do tell!

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We once saw someone looking at each bunch of bananas and picking the best ones then putting those in a bag to purchase. Who even thinks to do that?

 

I do this so I can get just the number I want at the right level of ripeness for what I'm going to be doing with them. The bananas at my local store usually have some in the bags and some loose. I will try and find a bunch that is right for my needs but I will pull off one "bad" banana if necessary.

 

I don't do this with grapes but I might if we wouldn't eat the entire bag. I wash them in a vinegar wash when I get them home.

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Here is the reply I got to my email. The lack of professionalism, grammar and punctuation is astounding.

 

Dear Saraha,

Thanks for the concern and bringing to our attention about the bakery containers I have spoke to the bakery manager and his going to make sure the container are taped. We look forward seeing you on next your visit

Have a Great day

Thank you

Edited by saraha
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Here is the reply I got to my email. The lack of prfessionalism, grammar and punctuation is astounding.

 

Dear Saraha,

Thanks for the concern and bringing to our attention about the bakery containers I have spoke to the bakery manager and his going to make sure the container are taped. We look forward seeing you on next your visit

Have a Great day

Thank you

 

Oh my goodness.

 

Ridiculous. I would check next time and make sure they are taped if you go there again. But any store this lax about health violations would worry me.

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It reminds me of the waitress that took a used dish of salsa from a table that was just cleared, filled it to the top from a pitcher, and set it on our table...and had no idea what we were so freaked out about.

 

:001_huh: That reminds me of the local restaurant where I watched an employee take a sip from one of those metal milkshake containers before pouring the milkshake into a glass for a customer. We have never returned to that restaurant. :lol:

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