Stop With All The Squeezing Already...

Is it just me or is it really odd how we pick out the type of fruit we intend to purchase and eventually eat? What other foods do we pick-up, touch, bump, rub and then put back if it does not meet our needs.

If you think about it, in many religions we don’t even let people who are getting married get as friendly as people do with the fruit they are thinking about buying.

Worse, when the fruit does not meet the requirements of the shopper, we don’t mandate that this fruit be purchased. We simply allow the individual to put the fruit back on top of the pile and walk away without thought or regard for the next person who actually buys the discarded item.

People handle products all day long, but those products come in a wrapper. Like gum. Can you imagine buying a piece of gum, which has been eaten and deemed unworthy for purchase and discarded for someone else? Or bread, butter, ice cream, ranch dressing. We don’t let people double dip at parties, but eating fruit from the store is fine. Grapes, strawberries, blueberries, they are all fair game.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not pointing the finger at anyone. I am no angel when I'm buying fruit. In fact, I'm the worst. Before I leave that isle, I almost feel ashamed for not marrying the apples I fondled. I love crisp apples, but can’t stand it if they are soggy, so I will test 20 or more before I find the perfect one.

The anonymity of the fruit buying experience is the key to our bad behavior. We do lots of things alone, that we would never share and, worse yet, never admit if we were in a group. We all know that if the person who had to buy the apple you were testing for firmness was standing in back of you, watching you, you would be less likely to grope, squash or taste it before passing it to him to take it home and make it into fruit salad.

So, is it just me?