There is an age-old question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" I have no idea what the answer is. But I do have another, more important question. If the sample lady's knife falls on the floor and no one is there to see it, does it get washed? Oh, you would like to think you know the answer. You and all the Health Department officials would like to believe the answer is an unequivocal "yes". And you all would be wrong.
When I was being trained at Brand A Supermarket (of course I've changed the name -- I'd like to stay out of the legal system, thank you very much), Russell was showing me the ins and outs of demonstrating for the eager public the way to cook flatiron steak. Yummy, yes indeed. And when the knife used to cut sample-sized portions accidentally fell to the floor, we were on our way to the backroom so he could show me where to wash and sanitize the knife. Unfortunately, a customer stopped him to ask a question and back we went to our cooking demonstration cart. Things got busy, and the knife never got washed. Oh yes, plenty of other meat samples were cut up. And yes, they were all cut with the knife that fell on the floor. But sales are important in the retail grocery biz, folks. If we don't make enough sales, your prices go up. And really, which would you rather have, clean food or low prices? Wait...don't answer that. Let's go back to talking about that tree in the forest. It's a much more comfortable topic.
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