Tank wrote:
> This year, I have noticed a number of grocery
> stores placing trash cans next to their sweet
> corn displays. This is for those people who
> feel it necessary to strip their corn there in
> the store. Are they placed there because the
> stores are knuckling under to rude people who
> peel back the ears to check them? What happened
> to being able to judge an ear without destroying
> it? What happened to simply taking the luck of
> the draw with your produce, as the human race
> has for thousands of years?
>
> Am I the only person who dislikes this trend?


I can't speak for the whole of humanity, but I like it. I like being
able to check the kernels in the store. In every crop, there are bound
to be some ears that are bug eaten or don't have the kernels fully grown
in. Rather than get them home and be disappointed there, why not know
what I'm buying before I buy it? I hardly think it's rude to want to
know the quality of the produce. With the garbage can right there, I
can accomplish the task of shucking in only a few minutes and feel neat
and clean about it. Perhaps there is a way to judge an ear without
shucking it, but since shucking doesn't destroy it either way, I can't
see where doing so is rude. As for this being a new trend, I can't
remember a time when supermarkets DIDN'T place the can right there for
the customer's convenience.


There are stores that prepackage everything. I try not to shop at
those. I far prefer being able to choose everything from my apples,
corn, peppers to zucchini so I shop at the supermarket that lets me do
that. And before you accuse me of bruising and ruining everything I
touch, I don't. I'm gentle with the produce. Apparently everyone else
is too because the produce is generally in excellent shape with only a
few exceptions.


--Lia