Just another day at work

Part I

Scene: A deli part of a food co-op along with an item being sampled out on a demo table.

Actors: One employee behind counter, two women shopping independently, and one little girl from around the corner.

Cue: Little girl, who is seemingly on a quest in her pink bicycle helmet, walks straight up to the bread on the demo table being sampled with spinach dip. She picks up one inch-by-inch cubed piece with the left hand, exaims it, then performs the same act using her right hand. The first one goes back on the top of the pile and having made her important choice of the day, she waltzes off back around the corner (all eyes have been on her whilst she performed this entire act).

Cue: Employee from behind counter dutifully approaches the demo table, plucks the fondled bread from the pile and returns to behind counter where the waste is disposed of in the food recycling bin, which goes off to a pig farm.

Cue: Two independent shoppers laugh there heads off at the act that I performed and here I was thinking nothing of what I did. I merely... did it. I comment to the shoppers: "Oh, I use to be a teacher with children her age, its simply instinctual for me to do that (not out of disgust with the child, but seeing a potential health problem and taking care of it)."

Part II

An hour later...

Scene: A demo table with one cookie piece left to be sampled out.

Actors: Young boy (age 3), employee behind deli counter #1 (same as above), another employee #2 behind deli counter, and a couple who are parents to the young boy previously listed.

Cue: A young boy eyes up the cookie sample upon the demo table, looks around and takes it promptly, as if doing something wrong.

Cue: Employee #1 picks up the demo table to clean the area up.

Cue: Boy returns to find the demo gone and wonders aloud: "It was right here, where did it go?" (Continues looking around with curiosity).

Employee #1: "It's over here. The same cookie you tried can be found right here." (Pointing at basket filled with three kinds of wrapped cookies).

Cue: Parents come around from opposite corners of deli aisle. Boy picks up a yellow bell pepper wrapped in a plastic bag ot of his parent's shopping cart, then proceeds over to digital scale near one end of deli counter.

Boy: "I wonder how much this weighs? How much do you think this weighs (speaking to mom and dad)? I think I should weigh it on the scale. Look! It weighs point-four-five (he utters slowly). It's point-four-five Dad! Look at this! Come over here and see it Dad. You need to see it. It weighs point-four-five."

Cue : Dad strolls over... looks as if he's been trying to avoid child or is merely tired from same type of interaction with child.

Dad: "That's almost half a pound."

Boy: "It's point-four-five. I wonder how much my hand weighs. I'm going to weigh my hand. First I need to take off my wristband to weigh my hand."

Dad: "Come on, let's go."

Cue: The family of three leave around one of the corners.

Employee #2: "Hehehehe!" (Laughs softly to self). "The mom said dryly to me: 'He's driving me crazy (motioning to child); he's been like this all day.'" (This was said unbenounced to employee #1 while the child was weighing the yellow bell pepper). Upon hearing this I laughed so hard I (employee #1) found trouble controlling myself. Truth be told I was chuckling to myself the whole time this was all going on.