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Sometimes I don't bother and it works to my advantage.  If the cashier doesn't know the difference between haricot verts and stringbeans, I deserve to save that $2 a pound.

I thought stringbeans _were_ haricots verts. What's the difference?

Two Dollars.

Oh, come on, that one's too easy.

I just ran into this one this evening. It is not a case of individual statement but one that I can't figure out. At my local Randall's they have a $1.99 per pound special on asparagus. Specials are usually featured in special bins and fridge cases in the entryway to the store. Here they have the asparagus all lined up artistically. Smack in front of the case there is a big display, making a "brick wall" sort of like shoring up the front of the case, of . . . Velveeta? Oh! And next to the Velveeta they have a similar display of the store brand "fake Velveeta."  :blink:  :wacko:  The mind boggles.

What, you don't pour melted Velveeta all over your asparagus? :wink: Think of it like the display of caramel apple kits next to the apples or pound cake by the strawberries. We may prefer asparagus roasted or with homemade hollandaise, but to many, that Velveeta placement was inspirational.

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. . . . .

. . . We may prefer asparagus roasted or with homemade hollandaise, but to many, that Velveeta placement was inspirational.

Now that is a sad thought.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever had, much less made, asparagus with a cheese sauce. Hollandaise yes, cheese no. I am not even sure that sounds good, even with real cheese.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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This thread reminds of of the time I tried to buy some swiss chard- took it up to the checkout and the lady asked what it was. "Swiss Chard" I said. She then proceeded to look it up in the computer but wasn't able to get a price on it- saying, we usually use this stuff as decoration around other items in the produce section. She had to find someone in produce to get a price on it but no one there knew how much it sold for either. I think in the end, she charged me the price of iceberg lettuce for the bunch I wanted. :hmmm:

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This thread reminds of of the time I tried to buy some swiss chard- took it up to the checkout and the lady asked what it was. "Swiss Chard" I said. She then proceeded to look it up in the computer but wasn't able to get a price on it- saying, we usually use this stuff as decoration around other items in the produce section. She had to find someone in produce to get a price on it but no one there knew how much it sold for either. I think in the end, she charged me the price of iceberg lettuce for the bunch I wanted.  :hmmm:

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

You bought the garnish?

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Sometimes I don't bother and it works to my advantage.  If the cashier doesn't know the difference between haricot verts and stringbeans, I deserve to save that $2 a pound.

I'm guilty of this too but now I've started doing it on purpose, making a mental note of another weird veggie that's less expensive by weight. So if they're holding up my raddichio and asking if it's endive, I say "uh, no, red cabbage I think." I think that probably makes me a bad person, doesn't it? :huh:

:laugh: I don't go out of my way to do it deliberately, and most of the time I do break down and tell the poor clueless cashier what the item is, but sometimes, well, I don't. :laugh: My understanding is that the supermarkets are supposed to train their cashiers on identifying all the produce items on sight--I can understand when the item is something really obscure so that the learning doesn't get reinforced very often, but when it's what I would think of as a fairly common item and they can't ID it, I'm rather less understanding. (In other words--oh c'mon, I can't be the only customer who ever bought collard greens from you, can I?)

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Honest to God, I was in a Shop Rite in Jersey City a few years ago that's just famous (among my friends anyway) for cashiers that just don't know one piece of produce from another.

I was buying three very large lemons.

The cashier held it up to me and asked "What is this?" and I replied, "It's a LEMON."

She said "but it's so big"

and I replied, "It's a BIG LEMON."

I have a few more and I'll post them later.

Overheard at the Zabar’s prepared food counter in the 1970’s:

Woman (noticing a large bowl of cut fruit): “How much is the fruit salad?”

Counterman: “Three-ninety-eight a pound.”

Woman (incredulous, and loud): “THREE-NINETY EIGHT A POUND ????”

Counterman: “Who’s going to sit and cut fruit all day, lady… YOU?”

Newly updated: my online food photo extravaganza; cook-in/eat-out and photos from the 70's

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The cashier called out to the second person in the Express checkout line, who had a very full cart, "Excuse me, Excuse me Miss, this line is Ten items or less!"

The woman said "Oh [crap]" and got off the line.

I was behind her and as I moved up called out to the cashier "Oh but I only have five items of less" and she screamed out in panic "Then you can't be on this line either !!!"

A few seconds later there was a great deal of laughter from everybody around, although she never got it.

-----

An A&P opened some years ago with great loss-leader prices on meats the first few weeks and sold out of all of them.

Week one I went for a raincheck on the Pork Loin, and the girl at the courtesy counter wrote it out for Pork "Leon" (with the quotes around the "Leon")

-----

The next week was a sale on beautiful pieces of Top Round for London Broil and they sold out instantly so I went for that raincheck.

The same girl wrote out the name of the item correctly, "Top Round for London Broil" and put the price, and then added the line in quotes "Must buy 6 pounds or more" which had nothing to do with that sale (I don't think a london broil would even qualify) and which I see on the 'Family Packs' of chopmeat and pork chops, and I told her it didn't apply to this sale, and she answered,

"Oh, that's just something that we have to write so they know that it's meat."

Overheard at the Zabar’s prepared food counter in the 1970’s:

Woman (noticing a large bowl of cut fruit): “How much is the fruit salad?”

Counterman: “Three-ninety-eight a pound.”

Woman (incredulous, and loud): “THREE-NINETY EIGHT A POUND ????”

Counterman: “Who’s going to sit and cut fruit all day, lady… YOU?”

Newly updated: my online food photo extravaganza; cook-in/eat-out and photos from the 70's

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there are two elderly women who come into the lunch restaurant where i serve. we fight over who has to take their table because they're just so annoying.

asking about spinach and feta croissant: "now do we pick a meat to put in that?" "no, it's a vegetarian entree." "i suppose some people can't afford to have meat, poor things."

looking at scone selection: "now, these are scones, you say?" "yes. these are dried cherry, these are cheddar dill." "now what do scones do?"

SCONES: WHAT DO THEY DO??

my god.

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Don't remind me about scones; I nearly resorted to fisticuffs to correct a colleagues's pronunciation of the word...

Full points to the well-meaning checkout jockey - a matronly, middle-aged type - who kindly pointed out that the oranges I was buying were 'very very sour' and needed to be cooked before being eaten. If I was being picky, I'd have said that the 10lb of sugar she'd swiped through beforehand gave some indication that they were destined for the marmalade pot.

Another -

Cashier : What are those? *picking up shallots*

Me : Shallots

Cashier : Are you sure they're not onions?

Me : Well, technically they are, but they're more expensive (by about a factor of four)

Cashier : I can't find shallots on the system. Are they onions?

Me (resigned sigh): Yes. They're very small, very pointy onions. Wait there while I get some more.

Allan Brown

"If you're a chef on a salary, there's usually a very good reason. Never, ever, work out your hourly rate."

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Just for goof and because of this thread I picked up a black radish the other day hoping to totally stump the cashier. Well I got distracted taking the sausage out of the bag with the lettuce and she was through when I looked up...I checked the slip later in the car, she rang it up as a Fig ...damn good guess

tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

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