On the day after Christmas, I stopped by Country Mart for a few items. SWEET GUMMI MARY! I suggest you get your handbaskets loaded, and I mean with supplies from somewhere other than Country Mart!
I don't always trust Country Mart. I've bought bad cheese there before. Not necessarily BAD cheese, but cheese with an expired date. It was for my grandma's Christmas basket many years ago. Thank the Gummi Mary, I caught it before gift-giving time, and took it back. I'm pretty sure the gal at the service desk called someone from the deli department up front to put it back on the shelf. I've also found expired mayonnaise there, and just shoved it farther back on the shelf and got a good one. I don't think these things happen entirely by accident at Country Mart.
Anyhoo...one of the items I was shopping for on December 26th was lettuce. Preferable romaine, but I'd take iceberg if necessary. Just something to make myself a side salad at supper. Well! I left that store without any lettuce.
Perhaps you heard about the romaine recall again. While we were in Norman, Oklahoma visiting The Pony for Thanksgiving, it happened. One moment the waitress took our order for Caesar salads, and the next moment she was back at the table, apologizing for no Caesars, due to a romaine recall. Since then, I'm pretty sure the recall was lifted. Because The Pony, Farmer H, and Friend all had Caesar salads at that steakhouse over CasinoPalooza 3 on December 15th. AND, I've bought bagged romaine at The Devil's Playground since then.
That's what I was looking for in Country Mart. However...there was nary a bagged lettuce to be found. Unless you count the shredded lettuce, like for tacos. It looked mushy in the bag, so I definitely didn't want that, even though at times I like my salad made with shredded lettuce. There were bags of spinach leaves and baby spinach leaves, but I'm not real fond of them, even though I had them in my salad on CasinoPalooza 3. It's just too much like eating LEAVES!
Here's where I sensed the coming Apopadopalyspe (trademark Farmer H). The store had a sign printed in large font, like maybe by an old person who doesn't know much about technology, that said due to the romaine recall, prices of lettuce had skyrocketed, so please bear with country mart, during the inconvenience, since they had done everything they could to obtain shipments of lettuce and keep prices down.
Huh. That said, the only lettuce in the produce department was heads of iceberg, with a DATE OF DECEMBER 21 on the plastic wrap! Yes, it looked kind of brown and wilty. NO WAY was I going to buy lettuce dated DECEMBER 21 on DECMBER 26! No siree, Bob! That's highway robbery.
Oh, and their corn on the cob was all dark and shrinky! Like it was actually feed corn for livestock, rather than people-corn! I didn't even check the date on that.
There oughta be a law! I'm shocked that the county health department hasn't been in there posting notices and releasing information to the local paper.
I guess they're tied up warning Santas that they'd been holding babies with whooping cough.
I think you need to contact the County Health Department and let them know about the lettuces and other expired goods. Out here, shops get warnings and fines for holding or selling expired goods.
ReplyDeleteThe local market here is under new management, but I am still very careful when I shop there. I don't think they rotated their stock regularly and then would do it suddenly, but would still offer the out dated merchandise for full price. The other choice in our small town is still into selling out dated stuff. They do offer a discount, though. I ventured in once to see a tower of Hellman's mayo in the middle of the produce section at a fabulous price. I don't do out dated mayo, though. Good thing I wear my unsmudged bifocals and read dates before I commit to a purchase!!
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteI have to be careful so they don't know it's me! I don't want to get banned from the store in retaliation. I buy Farmer H's little ice cream cups there, and use their scratcher machines!
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Kathy,
Heh, heh! Your unsmudged bifocals!
If I have mayo at home that is unopened, maybe a month past the date, I'll use some. But no way would I buy it already expired, for any price!
All complaints should be handled anonymously. That's the way it works out here. People complain and the store gets told of the complaints without disclosing who and then secret "shoppers" go in on a regular basis to check on the goods the store is selling.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteWe probably have a waiting list for the "secret shoppers" to inspect. Last time Country Mart was in the news, it was for a deli employee having E. coli, I think. Pretty sure it wasn't hepatitis. But something you don't want! That's when Farmer H had been eating biscuits and gravy there about three times a week!
Luckily, he didn't catch it, just like he escaped the Whooping Cough from that Santa baby!