Interesting Tidbit

I firmly believe that you can learn something from everyone. In my quest for odd bits of knowledge, I often talk to people when I am out and about. People generally like talking about themselves or their jobs and are usually more than happy to talk to someone who seems interested in them.

Yesterday I got into  a conversation with Mary Kate, a girl at the local Food Lion. She seemed thrilled that I wasn’t complaining or looking for baking soda, but wanted to ask her a real question. Mary Kate is in charge of “orphans” which, as I learned, are the things that people put back where they don’t belong. These have to be collected and dealt with. Some things can be put back in their rightful place on the shelves but some must be tossed (ie. hamburger sitting out in the health and beauty aisle).

I asked Mary Kate which items are left to the side most often. She said the majority of her work came from the dairy aisle, the last aisle in this store layout. There are tables there where vendors bring in donuts, honey buns and Entemann’s cakes. This is also the ice cream and frozen pie aisle. People will ditch the Oreo’s and Snackwell’s for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or a Mrs. Smith’s apple pie.

I also asked about odd things she had uncovered that day. Among her findings she presented on-vine tomatoes found in the detergent section and ranch dressing in the fish freezer. She also showed me a piece of Glade packaging that had been left behind by a thief. She remarked, “They are willing to be prosecuted for shoplifting over this dollar-and-some-change air freshener. It’s just pathetic. How bad does their house smell?”

Tonight Gray and I are going to the movies. More soon…