The Squished Bread That Wasn't & Salad Bar Nuts

[vikingchyk]

Like these folks?

http://kotaku.com/how-chinese-ingenu...-834835079/all

it's nice to know that the US isn't the only place that has @$$holes...

[DeltaSierra]

One of my fellow students single-handedly caused the cafeteria to change from "by the plate or bowl" to "by the pound". Bowls were cheaper than plates. He'd carefully build a tower of salad, putting heavy stuff like tomatoes in the bottom, filling the spaces between with sunflower seeds & dressing. He'd layer other salad ingredients up to the rim then tuck cucumber slices along the rim to create a new, higher rim, keep adding layers etc. He became famous, people would time their lunch to watch him build another masterpiece. After purchase, it would dump out onto more than one plate. Finally the cafeteria manager bought scales for each register and put an end to his architectural career.

Like these folks?

http://kotaku.com/how-chinese-ingenu...-834835079/all

[Lace Neil Singer]

That is so typical! We can't have nice things because idiots have to ruin it for everyone.

There are a couple of grocery stores here with really nice salad bars (none close to me, naturally). I sure hope they don't get shut down due to stupid people.

I was really upset when the salad bar closed, cuz it was nice to go get a bowl of salad to have for lunch. And guess what, a lot of customers whined to Customer Services about the loss of the salad bar after it closed. Who wants to bet that those customers were the same selfish SCs who were the cause of it closing in the first place?

[Dreamstalker]

None of the locations of "my" store that I've been in have salad bars. Some have self-serve olive bars (which we used to have; I'm not sure if it was taken out because of space or idiots, but I'm guessing the latter).

We have a few signs in Produce citing that sampling/grazing is a violation of state law/health codes, but the problem is enforcement. Besides me, Produce Manager is the only one who cares about it, but we won't ban anyone no matter what they do.

[XCashier]

This resulted in a lot of theft, so the salad bar was eventually canned. Well done, SCs, you ruined it for everyone else.

That is so typical! We can't have nice things because idiots have to ruin it for everyone.

There are a couple of grocery stores here with really nice salad bars (none close to me, naturally). I sure hope they don't get shut down due to stupid people.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Used to have that problem back when the supermarket had a salad bar. What we used to do if someone came to the checkout with an emptied salad pot was call a supervisor, who'd then go over to the bar, stuff a plastic pot full of the heaviest item (the dry boiled potatoes), weigh it, get the sticker and then come back. XD

Cuz of customer whinging, the salad bar was eventually changed to per pot. This resulted in a lot of theft, so the salad bar was eventually canned. Well done, SCs, you ruined it for everyone else.

[AccountingDrone]

I'd never even heard of that site. Off to check it out now

I get stuff off minimus for travel, or stuff I want to try. They also have a 'care package' sort of service that I have not yet tried.

They have the nicest cloth face and hand towels in lemon that is not gunked up with lotions or aloe, the kind that you heat or chill in a sushi bar or Benihana grill sort of place. If I were rich, I would buy the damned things by the case! I also got a mini truffled olive oil [like an ounce or so] that was excellent for adding to mashed potatoes.

[Dreamstalker]

Have you shopped over at minimus.biz? They have all sorts of tiny condiments - it can be a great way to see if you like a particular brand, or of tiny travel toiletries. And you can get some interesting stuff in their sale stuff.

I'd never even heard of that site. Off to check it out now

[Kit-Ginevra]

I'm afraid I specialize in this at the pick'n'mix-it says 99p a cup.I'm getting my cup's worth.No extra wrappers-they cost more.In goes the sweeties-push them down firmly and add more.Jam in small sweeties down side till edges push out.At the end,stuff is bulging out,piled up,having to hold the cap down to stop it all cascading off. As soon as it's paid for,it goes in the bag and normally gives way....I swear I can get about two cupfuls into one

[AccountingDrone]

I admit to having a pocketful of the brand-name deli horseradish sauce packets in my locker, only because we rarely have them out so I grab em when I see em.

I am particularly fond of Arby's horsey sauce [I can remember when they used to sell it in little plastic squeezy bottles.]

Have you shopped over at minimus.biz? They have all sorts of tiny condiments - it can be a great way to see if you like a particular brand, or of tiny travel toiletries. And you can get some interesting stuff in their sale stuff.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I do not miss the times working grocery register when someone would cheerfully plop an empty container on the belt from the prepared foods section and say "Oh, and I ate this"

And it never failed, it was a by-weight item.

Most grocery stores that I've been in with that kind of prepared-food section has the items pre-stickered with their prices already. Especially if they're price-by-weight.

I understand that may not be the case everywhere.

[Dreamstalker]

I don't even try to argue with someone who convinces me they want to pay more. I'm not talking about BOGO or quantity sales, I've had SCs try to argue the price up. SC picks up a pound of butter, it's say $2.29. Sees a sale tag for a more expensive butter reading 2/$6 right next to it. The butter they get rings up as it should, I've had a few cranky bats be dead certain that it should be $3 because it's 'on sale'. One of my shift leads has given me the 'authority' to charge the higher price in those cases.

wolfie, I love your idea (I've done something similar a few times; just weigh a more expensive item and enter it as generic produce). Anyone who grazes without buying anything should be charged triple the highest possible price in that department.

I admit to having a pocketful of the brand-name deli horseradish sauce packets in my locker, only because we rarely have them out so I grab em when I see em.

[simplyanother]

Our salad bar is sort of situated between the fronts of produce and seafood. For some reason, the customers have decided that this means that Seafood is in charge of the bar. "When are YOU going to put out more lettuce?", "ugh, is that ALL the ham?"

Never, and beats the hell out of me. Would you like a shrimp?

They sell these little packets of dressing, I think they're 50 cents each. People just grab like 20. And pocket them.

There are some special people who are bad at math. A couple of the items on the salad bar are also available in the seafood department. Salad bar is 4.99 a pound. People will fill their containers up with just those items. Said items are both 3.99 a pound in Seafood. Literally steps away.

[Shalom]

Store I work at on alternate Sundays (for now) doesn't have a salad bar, but does have a pickle-and-olive bar. All the olives are $7.99/pound, regardless of if they're colossal greens stuffed with garlic or sundried black (to give the two density extremes) or anything in between.

However, olive juice, which is essentially water, is also $7.99/pound if you happen to get it in your container. This is why there's a slotted spoon there to take your olives with. There's also a small ladle; if you want to take olive juice separately in another container, they don't charge for it.

If you want, you can even get your olives priced (if there's anyone at the deli counter) and then go back and backfill the container with juice; this could theoretically be abused, but I believe, or at least hope, the clientele of this store is honest enough not to cheat.

(It would be simple enough for them to prevent it: every kosher deli has tamper-evident sealing tape at the counter, to provide evidence that the food hasn't been opened since it left the control of the kosher supervisor. I suppose if the pricing guy was suspicious, like someone handing him a quart container with an ounce of olives in the bottom, he could tape the container shut. Or he could just step around the counter and watch, I guess, but they never did either of these things with me. I suppose I have an honest face or something. It doesn't matter if nobody's there, as you'd then have to weigh it at the register and pay for whatever's there anyway.)

Oh, and they also have purple pickled turnips, but they were out last time I was there. Love those things, and so does my 4-year-old daughter. They're purple because every tenth piece or so is actually a beet rather than a turnip. We called these things "reebl" in Yiddish; I didn't even know there was an English name for them until I was grown.

[wolfie]

I do not miss the times working grocery register when someone would cheerfully plop an empty container on the belt from the prepared foods section and say "Oh, and I ate this"

And it never failed, it was a by-weight item.

Register needs a "hot deli item eaten in store - estimate by volume" function. How much should this item charge? Find the item with the highest density to convert volume to weight. Next find the item with the highest cost per pound to convert weight to dollars. Now double it. For example, they snacked on 500 ml of potato wedges valued at around a buck (but since the container is empty, you don't know what they ate). Container can hold about a pound and a quarter of soup. Popcorn shrimp is $8/pound. Since they chose to eat it in-store rather than cashing out first, their potato wedges cost $20.