Spoiled Food.

[ralerin]

I got three small stories to share with you today. One happened to me and two of them I overheard.

So our cooler at work broke over the weekend and is currently at a toasty 47 degrees Farenheit. All of the milk and eggs and cheese and other things like that that have to be kept cold have gone rancid. The beer and sodas are warm, but people don't really care judging by the amount of beer we still sell on Sundays. Anywho, the managers stuck a gigantic sign on the door, taking up four 8 1/2x11 pieces of paper that says "DO NOT BUY COOLER IS DOWN SORRY ". (Yeah, they put the smiley face in).

Woman comes up to my register today with a bunch of other things and a gallon of 2% milk.

"I wouldn't buy that milk," my manager said as she passed by (this is after I had pulled the dunderhead move of selling it to her because I forgot about the bloody sign )

"But it's cold!" said the woman.

"The cooler broke down over the weekend so all the milk is spoiled. Smell it," said the manager, so the customer did. Even from across the counter I could smell it. I ended up having to process the return. After all was done, she said to me, "You should've put up a sign."

"You didn't see the gigantic sign?" I questioned.

"No...*sigh* I'm sorry...I was on a milk mission."

There was another customer who was throwing a fit because she couldn't buy half and half in the aisle and my manager dealt with her. Sorry babes, I'm not up to giving you e-coli or salmonella or anything. Besides, our milk is damn expensive, you're better off going to the local superette, you'll pay less.

And this one I overheard last night. Dumbass younger middle aged guy (in his 30's) answers cellphone in the middle of my sale so I slow myself down a touch to drag out and eavesdrop.

"Yeah, I have just had the worst sushi meal ever. Oh yeah...yeah? The sushi was old, it was starting to smell spoiled so I called the guy over and...what? Oh no, he looked at the sushi and said, 'yeah, that's pretty old, right?' And I said, 'You had the audacity to serve this to me?'" (Guy wanders off since I'm done with his sale but stays somewhat near the registers so I can ring out his buddy and still semi listen). "I took a bite of the nishi roll and it tasted terrible...oh yeah...no, I returned it...what? Oh the restaurant was Tokyo Best at Blah blah Street, don't go there..."

And then he and buddy wandered off.

[Broomjockey]

Okay, her ignoring a large sign like that's silly, but can I ask why the stuff wasn't taken out from the fridge if it wasn't sellable? Seems like it woulda saved some trouble. I'm going to guess space issues though, right? No where to actually keep it. K. I understand now Heh, answered my own question! Sushi guy was weird though.

[ralerin]

Broomjockey-Yup. Our backroom is the size of a rat's nest and the cooler is already stuffed full of beer and drinks.

And Sushi Guy was weird. What gets me the most though is that the waiter admitted that the sushi was spoiled and yet he served it to the guy anyway. What's even better is that the guy took a bite even though the sushi looked and smelled unfresh.

[South Texan]

"No...*sigh* I'm sorry...I was on a milk mission."

Whoa. It took me a few moments to get past that statement.

An SC who APOLOGIZED after realizing her error???? Now that in and of itself makes for a red letter day!

[sixums]

"No...*sigh* I'm sorry...I was on a milk mission."

This made me . I just imagine the despondent look on her face about how she was so set on getting that milk. She shouldn't have ignored the signs if she wanted milk that badly (um, hello spoiled?), but at least she apologized!

[Hobbs]

This made me . I just imagine the despondent look on her face about how she was so set on getting that milk. She shouldn't have ignored the signs if she wanted milk that badly (um, hello spoiled?), but at least she apologized!

Forgive the food-product-ignorant, but, 47 F is pretty cold, isn't it?

[Dasota]

40-160? is the danger zone that stuff will spoil and bacteria will go crazy.

[Broomjockey]

Forgive the food-product-ignorant, but, 47 F is pretty cold, isn't it?

Not really. It's 8C. Your fridge is usually around 4C. And 8 is very much at the high end of what's safe to store food at. That's also just what the cooler's at now, it may have been higher, earlier.

[Rapscallion]

This all reminds me of when I was talking to the newsagent next to us. He had a fridge for his canned drinks and he sold some milk from there. Considering he was a normally intelligent bloke, he admitted to me that he turned his fridge off every night, since, "It will keep cold over night!"

No. No it didn't. We shared the same milkman. It really didn't. We had a word with the milkman and he began to keep it on overnight.

Odd, that.

Rapscallion

[Chromatix]

Worse, because fridges have a thermostat, then even if it did keep cold he wouldn't actually be saving any power. Think about it.

[Rapscallion]

I think he turned it off at the mains - not even the thermostat was going to be drawing power.

Rapscallion

[PepperElf]

Forgive the food-product-ignorant, but, 47 F is pretty cold, isn't it?

only if you're serving the milk at my old work cafeteria. (warm, spoiled, they didn't care)


but i am wondering... couldn't they just pour the crap milk down the drain, or did they need to inventory the lost items.

[Chromatix]

I think he turned it off at the mains - not even the thermostat was going to be drawing power.

Rapscallion

That's not the point. Frequently the thermostat is a bimetallic strip and a relay anyway, so it doesn't consume any power. I'm sure there are some that use an electronic thermostat, but that probably consumes about as much as a calculator.

What I meant is that if the insulation in the fridge was good enough to keep the box cold overnight without power, then the compressor would not be running for most of the time even if it was left plugged in. All the "savings" overnight would then be negated when the fridge was turned back on, and it had to work hard to bring it back to the normal temperature.

Worse still, power is most abundant at night in most areas, precicely because most offices and industrial production lines have shut down. So if you have an electricity charging system that takes peak-hours demand into account, he's actually wasting money even without the spoilage.

[Dips]

What I meant is that if the insulation in the fridge was good enough to keep the box cold overnight without power, then the compressor would not be running for most of the time even if it was left plugged in. All the "savings" overnight would then be negated when the fridge was turned back on, and it had to work hard to bring it back to the normal temperature.

That reminds me of one of the owners* of the sheet metal shop where Mr. Dips used to work. It was a metal building with large bay doors and filled with, you guessed it, piles of sheet metal and the metal parts they fabricated.

This owner used to turn the heat completely off every night. Not down. Off. In winter the employees would come in, the heat would go on and stay on all day trying to get to equilibrium.

By the end of the day, the inside temperature was almost high enough that the employees thought about taking off their parkas. But at that point it was time to put them on and go home, so why bother?

And then the boss would promptly turn the heat off again.

No matter how many times the employees explained how thermostats worked and that he wasn't saving any money by making everyone suffer**, he continued to do it.

*Note: This owner is not the same as the ones who laid off Mr. Dips and incurred a $50,000 fine from the EPA. He was a previous owner who sold the shop to them.

**Note: Think about it. They worked with their hands. With metal. That had been below freezing all night. I would have triple-dog-dared that idiot owner to try licking it to prove it's "not that cold" as he was so fond of saying.

[Jester]

...can I ask why the stuff wasn't taken out from the fridge if it wasn't sellable? Seems like it woulda saved some trouble. I'm going to guess space issues though, right? No where to actually keep it.

Broomjockey-Yup. Our backroom is the size of a rat's nest and the cooler is already stuffed full of beer and drinks.

I'm sorry, but space limitations is honestly no excuse for management not removing the milk and other spoiled items. You have no space? Inventory the lost product, and throw them the hell out. Don't have time to do that at the moment? Lock the doors that house the spoiled products, with a sign as to why. Whatever you have to do, that product needs to be removed from the public's reach, period. Sorry, but the management at that store should have that as one of their highest priorities, and apparently, they don't.

What gets me the most though is that the waiter admitted that the sushi was spoiled and yet he served it to the guy anyway.

As someone who has been in the food service industry for 22 years (good lord, how the fuck did THAT happen?), understand that the server doesn't always have a choice in the matter. In lesser establishments, they are given the food and if they question it, they are told to serve it anyway. Sometimes, refusal to do so can cost them their jobs. It's easy to sit in judgment when you are not the one working there under such stupid management, but unless the server has something else lined up, he may be between a rock and a hard place.

I have worked at and have had friends who have worked at such lesser establishments with very low standards, and frankly, it is Less Than Fun.

Personally, I would not return to said sushi restaurant.