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Back in May, I moved away from my fabulous ghetto town to a lovely place closer to work. My new neighborhood is this weird clash of cultures/education/careers I proudly call it my 'grown up, WA Berkley'. (I always wanted to live in Berkley but my school was on the other side of the bay and well, I couldn't afford housing over yonder.)
This place is littered with mom and pop shops, large-chain groceries with the old architectural flair (I adore brick!). No matter if this is a teeny little Indian place or a the nation-wide Target with the small grocery in its aisles, you can find at least ONE small section of Organic or Natural foods. I kid you not, the Natural/Organic movement is pretty big up here... and I love it.
Anyway, a few months ago, Hubby and I bought these little pint-sized bottles of milk from a local creamery. The milk was absolutely DELICIOUS, natural and slow pasteurized so the result was some really old-fashioned milk. The kind of milk I had grown up with outside of the states where Mum would dip her butter knife into the glass bottle, pull out creamy top and spread it on toast.
In fact, that is the motto of the company. It wants to keep those old-time family values and old fashioned way of producing milk and milk product.
--- Here comes the good part.
This creamery serves things the old way, in nice, thick-glassed bottles. You can recycle the bottles or keep them but if you aren't going to do either, please return them to the grocer you purchased said milk from. In fact, the farmer would rather you return the bottles to the grocer because it'd keep production costs lower and the request is clearly printed on the bottle 'Please Return'. And if you're not sure as to *where* you should return the damned thing, just ask the cashier and she'd be happy to tell you to please bring the bottles back to the service desk.
Now, I kept my first two half gallons because my darling husband keeps breaking/melting my pitchers. However, to keep more of those lovely glass bottles would be crazy as I'd run out of room in the fridge quickly and I can't possibly store them all as we buy that brand of milk once every week. (We love milk).
I return my glass bottles every time I stop buy to buy more milk.
I'm returning my bottles last Wednesday and having a little chit-chat with the CS lady when another woman comes up to the counter to return her own glass bottles.
The Lady behind the counter looks at the bag the woman has presented and gently pushes the bag back and says "Ma'm, with all due respect, this is the third time I have to remind you that when upon returning these bottles they *must* be rinsed. I can't take these until you rinse them."
W: What do you mean? You've done it before.
L: We've done it with the condition and knowledge that you were to bring these back rinsed the next time. You don't have to wash them with soap and water but you need to get rid of the milk residue.
W: This is ridiculous.
L: I can't take these bottles back.
W: But I came here to do my shopping!
L: I understand that, but I cannot take the bottles back until they are rinsed.
W: Can't you do rinse them yourself?
L: No.
W: what do you mean, no?
L: No. We can't rinse them ourselves; we simply don't have the facilities to rinse the volume of dirty bottles brought in every week and management has decided we are no longer accepting dirty bottles. It has become a health issue.
W: but they're just two bottles!
L: I'm sorry, you'll have to come back with the bottles rinsed out before we can accept them.
The woman was about to throw a hissy fit but she realized the manager had been within earshot and had not bothered to come and 'defend' her so she realized it was a moot point. Instead, she stood there for a brief moment, the cat butt look on her face, hoping to do accomplish the Jedi Mind trick. It didn't work. L simply blinked, offered her a bright grin and asked 'Is there anything else I can help you with?'
Out of curiosity I asked L if it was true about the health issue. She just kind of rolled her eyes and said that the majority of people never washed out their bottles... so the back room would stink with the smell of curdled milk while they waited for the Dairy guys to come in with their new delivery. "It wouldn't be so bad if we had the facility to clean them but the Creamery's gotten fairly popular these days. Besides, shipment can take up to two weeks sometimes so yeah."
On cue we both made a grossed out face and I went off to do my shopping.
But seriously.. it doesn't take much to rinse the damned things.
This place is littered with mom and pop shops, large-chain groceries with the old architectural flair (I adore brick!). No matter if this is a teeny little Indian place or a the nation-wide Target with the small grocery in its aisles, you can find at least ONE small section of Organic or Natural foods. I kid you not, the Natural/Organic movement is pretty big up here... and I love it.
Anyway, a few months ago, Hubby and I bought these little pint-sized bottles of milk from a local creamery. The milk was absolutely DELICIOUS, natural and slow pasteurized so the result was some really old-fashioned milk. The kind of milk I had grown up with outside of the states where Mum would dip her butter knife into the glass bottle, pull out creamy top and spread it on toast.
In fact, that is the motto of the company. It wants to keep those old-time family values and old fashioned way of producing milk and milk product.
--- Here comes the good part.
This creamery serves things the old way, in nice, thick-glassed bottles. You can recycle the bottles or keep them but if you aren't going to do either, please return them to the grocer you purchased said milk from. In fact, the farmer would rather you return the bottles to the grocer because it'd keep production costs lower and the request is clearly printed on the bottle 'Please Return'. And if you're not sure as to *where* you should return the damned thing, just ask the cashier and she'd be happy to tell you to please bring the bottles back to the service desk.
Now, I kept my first two half gallons because my darling husband keeps breaking/melting my pitchers. However, to keep more of those lovely glass bottles would be crazy as I'd run out of room in the fridge quickly and I can't possibly store them all as we buy that brand of milk once every week. (We love milk).
I return my glass bottles every time I stop buy to buy more milk.
I'm returning my bottles last Wednesday and having a little chit-chat with the CS lady when another woman comes up to the counter to return her own glass bottles.
The Lady behind the counter looks at the bag the woman has presented and gently pushes the bag back and says "Ma'm, with all due respect, this is the third time I have to remind you that when upon returning these bottles they *must* be rinsed. I can't take these until you rinse them."
W: What do you mean? You've done it before.
L: We've done it with the condition and knowledge that you were to bring these back rinsed the next time. You don't have to wash them with soap and water but you need to get rid of the milk residue.
W: This is ridiculous.
L: I can't take these bottles back.
W: But I came here to do my shopping!
L: I understand that, but I cannot take the bottles back until they are rinsed.
W: Can't you do rinse them yourself?
L: No.
W: what do you mean, no?
L: No. We can't rinse them ourselves; we simply don't have the facilities to rinse the volume of dirty bottles brought in every week and management has decided we are no longer accepting dirty bottles. It has become a health issue.
W: but they're just two bottles!
L: I'm sorry, you'll have to come back with the bottles rinsed out before we can accept them.
The woman was about to throw a hissy fit but she realized the manager had been within earshot and had not bothered to come and 'defend' her so she realized it was a moot point. Instead, she stood there for a brief moment, the cat butt look on her face, hoping to do accomplish the Jedi Mind trick. It didn't work. L simply blinked, offered her a bright grin and asked 'Is there anything else I can help you with?'
Out of curiosity I asked L if it was true about the health issue. She just kind of rolled her eyes and said that the majority of people never washed out their bottles... so the back room would stink with the smell of curdled milk while they waited for the Dairy guys to come in with their new delivery. "It wouldn't be so bad if we had the facility to clean them but the Creamery's gotten fairly popular these days. Besides, shipment can take up to two weeks sometimes so yeah."
On cue we both made a grossed out face and I went off to do my shopping.
But seriously.. it doesn't take much to rinse the damned things.
)
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