I was wasting some time in a local Super Center today while waiting on a dentist appointment for my son. Well, we swing through the bakery to pick up a couple of donuts to eat in the truck on the way home (I know, great right after the dentist right? lol). The cakes were right there and I was checking out one with a plastic princess on it (just out of curiosity) and this little bird flies right by my head. There was a rack of cakes that they must have just finished and hadn't packaged yet and the bird landed right on them! I mean, there must have been like 10 cakes on this rack (you know the ones with wheels on them). The thing that bothers me is that there was no one watching these cakes and if I hadn't seen it and told the employee then they would have been sold. I wish I could go back and check to see if they boxed them up anyway or if they really threw them away like they should have. If there was any doubt in my mind, I will never buy from a Super Center again. I will make my own cakes in my bird-free home. Nothing against birds, you understand, but who knows what that bird might have had, especially with all the sicknesses coming from birds nowadays. Also, just for the record, we skipped the donuts and got lunchables instead. No bird feathers in the donut icing for me!

Lesson learned: If you are going to step away from your cakes, COVER THEM!

Although I understand, with all the open dock doors and the big doors that customer use to go in and out, how birds can slip into a store, it always bugs me when I see one. Flying over the fruits and veggies, especially. I never thought about them flying in the bakery area!

If one ever poops in my hair, everyone in the store will hear me screaming, I'll guarantee ya!

That happens a lot in Walmarts around here. That's why I never actually grocery shop from there. I can't help it. It just freaks me out!

We had a bird when I was younger, and I clearly remember all the gross mess that went along with him. Ugggghhh so gross.

Ha! Ha! Indy...That reminds me of a funny story..Hubby works for Rona here which is a huge home renovation company like Home Depot.He is a manager..Anyway...They have problems with birds all the time flyin around and have had several options of getting rid of them over the years..none which have worked.There was this lady standing in the electical aisle one day and she had a huge Boufant hairdo..I mean bee hive!!! A bird flew over and crapped right on her beehive and she didn't even know it!! No one had the heart to tell her so we all chuckled...

Equally gross:
I was in the produce department at the supermarket loking to buy onions, and I noticed swarms of tiny bugs (like fruit flies) on the onions. The produce guy was sweeping the floor nearby so I called him over and showed him the bugs. He took his filthy, crud-covered broom and started swatting the onions with it. I wish I could have seen the look on my own face. Needless to say, no onions for me.

It makes me even more mad when I see people man-handling the fruit and produce after wiping there nose etc... and squishing all the peaches and soft fruit... I have made several comments when I see people doing this..

Okay you guys are SERIOUSLY grossing me out!

I have always wanted a veggie garden. I now how the incentive for next year!

A couple of months ago, I was in the local grocery store after a huge rain. Apparently, the roof flooded, which caused water to drip from a light fixture that was DIRECTLY OVER the FRESH SEAFOOD!

I mean, you could see the water was rusty after where it had traveled from, then through the corroded light and acoustic ceiling tile.

It totally grossed me out that the 2 guys behind the counter weren't all that concerned about it. The manager, however, took great interest.

What a fun thread! *blech*

Grrrroooosssssssssssssss

I wish I had more to add, but that about covers it

If we're sharing gross grocery store stories:

I use to work in a Deli/Bakery, I had the best manager. Then I moved away for college and a new store was opening up in the same city, so I decided to get a job there. My new manager was a hockey coach.... that's it... no experience with food in any way. Because I had years of experience they pretty much depended on me (I forced them to make me assistant manager, if I'm doing the work I'm going to be given the title and pay).

Soooo the hockey coach figured that deli meat never expired. Even when it's green and giving off funky odors, and not to mention covered in a thick coat of slime. I would come in and take the same hunks of meat out of our front cooler and put it in the back so that it could be recorded and throw out, only to have him grab it and INSIST on putting it back in the front cooler and sell it to customers. He also figured that the expiry dates given for baked goods were only suggestions and he would extend them by 5 days.

Needless to say I gave him one warning that if he didn't shape up I was leaving, after a week of good behavior he returned to his old ways, and I walked out on my lunch break and never came back.

I learned my lesson: some people who are working with food have no respect/concern for the customers who are going to be buying and eating it.

The bird thing is very common at the supercenter I worked at and a few times a week at about 2 or 3 in the morning they would shoot them down and throw them away. I was shocked when I saw this one night while working on an overnight remodel.

I have never seen any birds at our home depot even though they keep their door open all day. But one day I found out why that is, they have about four cats that live in the store. The litter boxes are kept somewhat hidden in the shelves, and the cats roam everywhere. So if you are allergic to cats and just happen to have a sneezing fit while at a big store like this, that is probably why.

oh yes always check expiration dates

I was cleaning the shelves on the cereal isle one day and found a box of cheerios that had been expired for a whole year. The stockers just didn't care about rotating stock.

absolutly gross

I was at one of the little grocery stores the other day and there were fruit flies all over the oranges and there were some seriously rotten fruit.

DH got stung by a bee in the middle of Costco.

We have a section of the city where it's all mom&pop shops, the locals won't allow big name chains to come in. The grocery store was shut down for changing the expiration dates on products, some were even a year old. It's now a big chain store.

I always wondered why people are allowed to bring dogs into the store. We don't have Walmart here, but when I have been in one I invariably see someone with a dog laying in the basket part of their shopping cart.

I am not against dogs, I have 2 myself. BUT I don't think they belong in the grocery section of the store. I mean, come on! Can't they sit out in your car if you insist they go everywhere with you?

I don't want doggie dander and parasites dropped around the food I am buying to feed my family and customers. And then I see little kids sitting in those shopping cart baskets licking the handles..

My husband's uncle thinks it is hysterical to tell people he wakes up with kitty litter in his beard because their 3 cats like to "cuddle" in the night.

Sick!

Ewww! All of these stories are awful! (So I'm glad you shared them! ) There are stores in your area that allow non-seeing-eye dogs in the store? That is really weird![/quote]

Nope, no Walmart here. I have been in WA state twice and seen dogs in people's baskets.

I was in the Super Walmart in WA state once and saw a man standing at the deli counter ordering something and he had a small green parrot on his shoulder. Again, I am not against birds, but cripes! The cascade of dropping on his shirt was my complete undoing. Just writing this makes me want to go wash my hands

You should say something about the pets in a store like that with food around, they are not allowed.(unless needed) People try to bring them in all the time at our walmart, but they are asked to leave. It's against health codes.

I worked at a donut shop years ago and the managers wife would come by often. She brought their baby once and actually changed his diaper right on top of the service counter. I complained to the manager and he just didn't think it was such a big deal. I found a new job.

I was also shopping one time at my local supermarked when I saw a gal come out from the back of the deli with a big bowl of fried chicken. When she went to put it on the counter it tipped and some of the chicken pieces fell out. I stood there and watched to see what she would do. She picked them up and put them on the counter for a moment and then proceded to put them on the tray for purchase. I went right to the manager and told him what I had seen. Uch!

I have one word of advice for all you that eat out. DESTROY ANY FOOD LEFT ON YOUR PLATE!!! Things like bowls of chips and baskets of bread sticks just get regrouped for the next table. I always pour soda or ketchup on things... and I don't order anything that could be re-used. That of coarse was after I found soggy chips in the bottom of a salsa pot that had just been set down by our server!!! GROSSSSSSS!!!!!!! Pour it out crunch it up just DESTROY IT ALL!!! I don't wany your left overs and you don't want mine!

I've worked in a number of restaurants over the years & I've never EVER seen anyone re-using ANYTHING that went out to a table. If it went to the table, it's done...even still-rolled-up, unused silverware!
BUT I would NEVER order food from a restaurant within 30 minutes or less before they close!

Wonderchick,
When I was a teenager(a hundred years ago), I worked as a waitress at a little diner in our town for a summer job. We served our hamburgers with lettuce, pickles and tomato on the side. When I picked up the plates when the customers were finished and if they hadn't used them I threw them away. I caught the cook who was the owner's wife grabbing pickles off dirty plates and putting them on new plates. Back then I was so meek that I didn't say anything, but was totally grossed out. Luckily summer was over shortly after that and I quit.

I worked as a manager at Steak and Shake and we never reused food, and we never messed with anyone's food even if they sent it back or came in right before we closed. And having done more than my fair share of dishes there, it was always really nasty to have to clean up after the people who poured pop or milkshake or whatever all over their plates.
I don't know why they put that in so many movies, I've worked in a few restaurants and none of that happened where i was at.

Sharing a story on a food person who does it right. The place I used to have lunch in every single day .... got to be real good friends with the owner. I ordered this one special that came with BBQ sauce on the side. I don't prefer BBQ sauce. I was hanging out at her counter when her helper brought my lunch to me. I handed her the cup of BBQ sauce and told her "here, save a dime, I dont' need this." Owner immediately said, "Just throw it away." Helper looked at her odd. Owner said, "Once it crosses the counter, you can't use it .... throw it away."