Waste Not, Want Not

Customer: “I need to return this. We didn’t need it.”

(The customer sets a 20lb bag of rice on the counter.)

Me: “Do you have your receipt?”

Customer: “Yes, I do.”

Me: “Just so you know, sir, all returned food products will be thrown away. They cannot go back on the shelf or be donated by us.”

Customer: “That’s ridiculous! What a waste!”

Me: “Yeah, it’s the law. Since some people have poisoned food in the past, we have to throw it away for safety reasons.”

(He continues complaining about how there are starving people and how we should think about helping people, but at no point tries to stop me and offers to donate it himself.)

Customer: “I mean, I run a youth group and we just got back from a mission to help people. You guys just go ahead and throw perfectly good food out.”

Me: “I’m sorry, you just returned from a youth mission?”

Customer: “Yeah, that’s what the rice is left over from.”