Dropping Food in the Grocery Store

Alas, my summer Monday days off have come to an end. As I was running around yesterday enjoying the weather and tending to a few "honey-do" items that were texted to me by my wife, I stopped at the grocery store.

I had been craving fresh fruit all day, specifically fresh strawberries. For some reason, fresh fruit tastes about 10 times better when someone else cuts it up for you, so I headed towards the area of the store that has pre-cut fruit ready to roll.

I finished up my shopping and headed over to the self-checkout area. As I was loading the groceries onto the checkout counter, I dropped the container of strawberries onto the floor and most of the berries fell out. I tried to stop the super nice grocery store worker from helping me clean them up, but she insisted. The strawberries were thrown away, I checked out the rest of my order, paid, and left.

On the way home, I was thinking about how interesting it was that no one in that situation expected me to pay for the strawberries that I clearly was responsible for ruining. What a strange twist in our society, no?

It's not just a grocery store situation. Think about it: have you ever been to a cafeteria and spilled your soda on the way to find your seat? Maybe the soda even spilled onto the food you were about to eat. What would happen? More than likely, the cafeteria would give you a new soda and probably a new burger and fries. Isn't that odd when you think about it?

It's almost as if the cafeteria (or the grocery store) offers an insurance policy on your food until you safely reach your destination. It made me wonder, at what point are you on your own? If you dropped the strawberries in your driveway, obviously you have passed the point of no return. So where along the way did the responsibility become mine?

I'd say that if I dropped and broke a jar of gravy in the supermarket parking lot, they would probably happily replace it. Once the groceries are loaded into your vehicle, they clap their hands and, for better or for worse, the groceries are all yours.