Then go to Central Market!

[Teysa]

A bit of background, I work at the butcherblock /seafood counter at an area grocery store. Central Market is competing store with a much different customer base and set-up.

This particular customer wasn't really sucky, just highly annoying. She came in wanting 6 pieces of salmon at exactly 3 oz each. And she wanted them all cut from the thick part of the salmon. That's a bit tedious, but still not too bad. The annoying part came in when she kept going on and on about how they do this for her all the time at Central Market and what a perfect job the girl over there does. I remained polite during the entire exchange but I so wanted to tell her to just go there if they're so much better.

[mattm04]

We had one lady who went to our seafood counter and asked for 1 pound of shrimp. The clerk begins to put the shrimp on the scale and after picking through the shrimp to get close to 1 pound it came out to 1.01 lb. The SC thew a fit on how she didn't want "that much shrimp."
SC: you guessed it
C: Clerk
OC; Other cust. in line

SC: That tooooooo much, i don't want that much. I told you 1 pound *ranting and raving* What are you going to do?
OC: You know shripm are animals and they do not stop growing once they reace a exact weight.
SC: <to clerk> Is that true?
C: Yes.
SC: *horrified/shocked look on face* I don't want these then. *hands back shrimp*

I didn't know people were that stupid.

[marasbaras]

oh, I hate that. She's probably buying from your store because the salmon there is less expensive. If I recall correctly, Central Market was rather pricy.

The lady bitched because of 0.01 pounds of shrimp? Jeez, some people just need to go play in heavy traffic.

I'm not exactly Mr. Patience. So, when the deli person gets my request within about 10%, I smile and say "hey, that's great! close enough ..." After all, it's food, not precise math. And, I'd rather not wait another ten minutes (I'm normally buying five or six meats at a time) because the deli worker is worried that I'm another twit who wants EXACTLY 1.25# of roast beef. 1.37, 1.16, 1.5 ... all close enough.

[Shadowwalker]

OC: You know shripm are animals and they do not stop growing once they reace a exact weight.


I didn't know people were that stupid.

huh? say that again...

was he trying to convince her that the shrimp would continue to grow even after they're dead?

[mattm04]

huh? say that again...

was he trying to convince her that the shrimp would continue to grow even after they're dead?

He was trying to say that shrimp, like cattle, of humans, plants do not grow in perfect 1 oz increments.

[Snowbird]

OC: You know shripm are animals and they do not stop growing once they reace a exact weight.
SC: <to clerk> Is that true?
C: Yes.
SC: *horrified/shocked look on face* I don't want these then. *hands back shrimp*

I didn't know people were that stupid.

That makes me wonder if she even knew that shrimp were living creatures before then. Maybe she's one of those SC variety vegans?

[Horsetuna]

I had something similar happen once. I had maybe THREE dolars total and I was going to buy a bun, two slices of meat and cheese.

Now, I'd bought two slices of meat before from the deli, but this lady was so irritating. I'd ask for two peices and she put on a whole handful... "No, two peices please." she'd take a few off but still obviously mroe than two.

Finall I gave up and had a bun for a meal. I also filled out a comment card that said "I only had a little money so wanted only two peices of meat, but the girl at the deli counter kept on putting much more than two peices on the scale. I wasted most of my lunch trying to buy lunch and just went with just a bun because of this. She may have been new though so please pass this on to let her know that two is not very much, but sometimes a customer just wants two."

[chops]

The only time I'm particular about the weight of meat I'm buying is when I buy ground beef. Even then, I'm not that particular...most of the things I do with it call for a full pound or a half pound, hence I look for packages as close to one full pound as possible. Yet, many grocery stores in this area insist on packaging their ground beef in packages of 1.2 to 1.3 pounds each. I don't complain, and I don't worry about .1 or .05 pounds off either way...but I don't understand why they feel the need to go that much over.

[Tito]

I didn't know people were that stupid.

Sadly, yes they can be. She sounds about the same mentality as that woman that I used to have to deal with back in my bakery days, who used to insist that I takes her rolls from the front of the case where she was, rather than the back where I was. She claimed that they were fresher up there, since they were not hit by air as much.

I used to think that she was the one who was hit by air too much.

[looney_librarian]

Could the stores be doing overage because of the loss due to cooking? You know how a lot of fast food places say 1/4 lb burger with the (net weight before cooking) posted somewhere on the board.

[smileyeagle1021]

The only time I'm particular about the weight of meat I'm buying is when I buy ground beef. Even then, I'm not that particular...most of the things I do with it call for a full pound or a half pound, hence I look for packages as close to one full pound as possible. Yet, many grocery stores in this area insist on packaging their ground beef in packages of 1.2 to 1.3 pounds each. I don't complain, and I don't worry about .1 or .05 pounds off either way...but I don't understand why they feel the need to go that much over.

i always got the impression that stores always went over because they wanted to make sure that they never went under a pound and had to deal with people bitching about being shorted on their one pound package of beef (even though you pay by weight and not package, i'm sure that doesn't stop people from complaining).

[jb17kx]

I just did some maths and worked out that 0.01lb is 4.5 grammes.

That's actually miniscule.

Now in the mince example I can see some reason, even though 0.1lb is 45.3g. I generally don't worry when by kilo packs of mince until about the 1.3kg mark, which is an extra 300g.

Often though I see packs at 0.953kg rather that 1.274kg and the like.

[Pagan]

So, when the deli person gets my request within about 10%, I smile and say "hey, that's great! close enough ..." After all, it's food, not precise math. And, I'd rather not wait another ten minutes (I'm normally buying five or six meats at a time) because the deli worker is worried that I'm another twit who wants EXACTLY 1.25# of roast beef. 1.37, 1.16, 1.5 ... all close enough.

I do this too, but not because of patience. Because of, to quote Emeril, "This ain't rocket science." Cooking is not an exact science. My mom was in a cooking class once and someone was getting too hung up on having exactly the amount the recipe called for. The gal running the class told them that if cooking was an exact science, there would be only one cookbook with all the formulas in it. (Rachel Ray measures by handfuls and such.)

Shoot, there's even a fudge factor in baking. You need more or less flour depending on how much moisture is in you local atmosphere.

[Legal Eagle]

at a deli style counter, the ammount you ask for is an aproximation. If you want that specific an ammount then get it prepackaged rather than making the server deal with your OCD.

[Bagga]

Shops package stuff in 1.2 or 1.3 pounds because that forces the customer to buy just a little bit more. And every bit more = more profit. There is virtually no customer convenience aspect to it, it is all down to squeezing that tiny bit more profit out of every transaction. That is why so many things are no longer sold loose. The damned customer would insist on buying only as much as he or she wanted.

Even loose stuff can incite pressure from the vendor. Just try buying 2 or 3 plums from a greengrocer. Or 6 cherries and 3 strawberries.