I usually shy away from samples at grocery stores, unless they are cheese. However, due to a recent experience that has sadly come to an end. First off people are to samples what vultures are to a fresh carcus. They hover, they wait and once they are put out they pounce. Self serve samples are the worst!! Just a week ago I was standing at the grocery store debating on what type of cheese to buy when I witnessed a young man pick up a toothpick and take a sample of cheese. Innocent enough right? Wrong. Then, without hesitation (meaning he has probably done this many times before) repeatedly stabbed at the cheese, stuffing piece after piece in his mouth. I stood there shocked, not only at how he was double, triple, even quadruple dipping with the toothpick but how he seemed unaware of my presence a mere few feet away. To make matters worse he flicked the smaller pieces of cheese he did not want to the side and stabbed only the larger pieces.
Flash forward to this past weekend, we were shopping at Whole Foods and I was offered a bowl of Love Crunch topped with a splash of milk. I had never heard of such a granola, but with a name as cute as that how could I resist? The combination of the compostable container, the more civilized customers and the well regulated sample distribution temporally resumed my faith in the samples......but I have to warn you whenever partaking of a sample watch out for perpetual cheese stabbing man lurking in the background.