What’s The Most Disgusting Thing You’ve Encountered At The Grocery Store?

Several times now, well, 3 to be exact. My 3 year old has contracted the flu after going to the grocery store with me. Twice after riding in the “car” cart that is available. I won’t name stores but we all know where the car cart is available. That is the store I usually frequent. And I ALWAYS wipe down the carts. UNLESS there are no wipes available, which has happened several times! I think that is rather annoying and the least they could do is make sure wipes are available at all times considering it’s highly unlikely they wash the carts. Actually I’m pretty sure they just wait for mother nature to rain down and do the work for them.

Aside from that store there is a bigger chain that is open 24 hours that I go to once in a while. Less so since I had my second child. They have no car carts and it’s hard to shop with 2 kids in a cart, but once in a while we go there. Three months or so ago, when it was still cold and flu season, was one of those times.

I remember it like it was yesterday! It was around 10pm at night and my 3 yr old was with me.  It was my only opportunity to go while my husband was home with the baby. When we got there all the aisles were blocked by the stock guys doing their job. We walked straight down one of the aisles towards the butter and yogurt area. As we’re quietly approaching I see a greasy haired, overweight, very dirty looking man around 55 years of age bent over the butter. He coughed. No attempt was made to cover his mouth. He coughed RIGHT ON THE FOOD. He then sneezes & wipes his nose with his hands. He then proceeds to finish stocking the food. I walked up to him with a bewildered look on my face and said something I don’t quite remember but it was like “uh, bless you. Are you sick?.” He turned around, gave me a nasty look and didn’t say a word!! I walked away pissed off. And no I didn’t buy yogurt or butter. If my kid wasn’t there I might have went off on him. I’m pretty sure I swore under my breath a little.

So, a month or two goes by and I’m there again. I try to buy the kids yogurt and I find that it’s expired! Gee thanks. The messed up thing was that I had already bought expired yogurt from this store unknowingly when my oldest son was still a baby, so nowadays I always check first. So this had been the 2nd time that happened.

I was there today so that I could buy some sparklers and things for the 4th since they have that kind of stuff there. I get over to the yogurt area and go to buy some Yo baby yogurt because I had a coupon I won for free yogurt. I look at the expiration date and by God it expired 3 days ago. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE. I mean I guess it’s good it hadn’t expired a month earlier like the first yogurt I bought. pfft.

So, I’m standing there fuming to myself and who do I see? The greasy haired stock guy! There he is. He walks out of the doors right next to his obvious “area” which consists of the butter & yogurt and he goes straight to the food sample lady and asks her if the food she’s making is ready yet. Ooooh you bastard. You dirty bastard! He was just as greasy as the first time I seen him. And I don’t mean the kind of greasy you get from working all day in an auto shop. I mean the, “I only like to take baths once a month” kind of greasy. It totally reminded me of a joke by George Carlin, who once said that the only time he washed his hands after using the bathroom was when he shit on them. I remember my husband laughing at it and me threatening that if he didn’t wash his hands after using the bathroom like that, I’d kick his ass.

After I finished checking out I nicely talked to the manager about the stock guy. I don’t ever complain or try to get people fired but this involves OUR kids health. I’m hoping she will do something about it. I told her he needs to be away from the sight of the public and the food! She told me it sounds like he needs some hygiene lessons. I don’t want him to lose his job but I sure hope he gets those lessons.

What’s the most disgusting thing you’ve encountered at the store? Do you bring your own wipes to wash the cart? Do you use a cart cover? Would you have done the same in my position or am I just turning into a mean old lady?

I want to hear your stories!!

One Comment

  1. That is soooo gross.. I don’t think I could go back to that store.
    My son licked a grocery cart once and then got sick and got almost everyone else sick at home. I wipe them now every single time just in case.

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