Oh yes, today was the day I caught a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster of the deli- the prime rib that is dated from August 2006 and is re-dated for this year! (Okay, so “Loch Ness” is the wrong comparison, since the prime rib is seen out in the store way, way more than Nessie.) Brought my camera today in order to take a few other pics and decided to covertly get some prime rib out and photographed.

Just a couple of things before I get to the good (or bad, however you might look at it) stuff.

First, I finally had enough of the stupid, stupid weekend scheduling. Seven people are scheduled for Saturdays and six on Sundays. The difference? Well, Saturday is so dead (in comparison to Sunday) that two people got sent home early yesterday, leaving five people behind and four to close. The other difference? On Sunday, one person is scheduled only to 1pm, so from 1pm onward, there are only five people working. Add the fact that from noon onward, one person is always on lunch, leaving us with four people, and you can see how stupid the scheduling is. So stupid in fact that I went over to… I’m not sure what she is… interm manager? Assistant manager? Customer service rep? Woman who goes around, making twice as much as the rest of us but doing half as much work? Woman who, in the presence of the Spanish person in question, asks the white girl if the Spanish person speaks English (while pointing at the Spanish person)? Whatever. “Dough Head” is what I call her, not only because of her stupidity, but because she pesters the poor girls in Bakery all day. Anyway, I brought my complaint to Dough Head about the lack of staff. I was told there were three girls in other depts who could work the deli, so go get any one of them. “And if they’re busy?” I asked DH. “Unless it’s catering, the deli is the most important thing.” K from salads was thrilled to hear that, let me tell you! /sarcasm

But see, the problem isn’t just finding people to serve. It’s having enough people to have time to do other jobs, like slicing cheese (we ran out of both counter cheese and pre-packaged cheese because we just did not have the time to re-fill either), keeping the display neat (you should have seen how shitty the counter looked), putting away the pieces of meat that we have to slice for people who want their fucking roast turkey sliced thin, but not too thin, sweeping the floor (there were times that a few of us slipped- safety violation!), etc. I stayed an extra 30min to try and help out a little bit, but even then, when I left, it looked like a meat bomb went off in the deli. I pitied the three (not four, like on Saturdays) girls who had to close.

So I left a note today, begging for more staff on Sunday. The other problem is, we only have exactly enough people to cover shifts. In fact, that’s not quite true, because during the week, D has been extended to full-time hours (which she doesn’t want), and C from catering is being pulled to cover the Monday/Tuesday I’m not there. So no, we don’t have exactly enough people to cover weekday shifts. God forbid anyone of us gets sick during the week. On the weekend, there is just enough bodies to fill the shifts. But again, god forbid anyone gets sick. I doubt my note will help at all, but I vented a bit about the impossibility of being able to do our jobs on Sundays with the few people we have. Next Sunday? Five people. Five. We’ll see if that gets changed at all.

Oh, I told Aerosmith M that I’d mention this fantastic customer request she had today. Kielbassa, for those unaware, comes in coils. She was asked for a pound of kielbassa, but without the kink/bend, if possible. I don’t know how to explain the impossibility of that except to say, imagine someone asking you to give them chocolate milk, but could you take the chocolate out first please?

Oh, I had one the other day, too. I was asked for complete pieces of ham, because her son only eats it if he can roll it and put it in a bun… and he can’t roll broken pieces. This is similar to a request I’ve had in the past (see previous entries), but in this case, I found out indirectly that this son is going to university next year, making him at least 18 years old. That’s right- he’s 18 and won’t eat a ham sandwich unless he gets complete pieces of ham so he can roll them up into his bun. I wonder if Mom will be FedEx-ing him meat on the weekends. *eyeroll*

Okay, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… pictures! Today I took pics of

  • the coleslaw I mentioned in my previous entry, dated Dec. 28th
  • as well as macaroni salad dated Dec. 6th,
  • Schneider’s Blue Ribbon bologna dated Jan. 3rd,
  • and the infamous prime rib, dated August 2006. No, that’s not a typo, that really is a ’6′.

Enjoy!


Hard to tell, I know, but that does say “Dec. 06/7″.


The coleslaw, 17 days out of date.


Bologna, 10 days out of date.


Reading those numbers, it says, “Best Before August 2nd, 2006″.


Note the numbers in blue. “2308″. That’s the lot number. You’ll see it later on the “best before” label on the meat.


The “best before” label on the meat that shows the date of August 2, 2006 as well as the matching lot # of 2308.


A closer look.


If you look, you’ll see where I’ve ripped off the original label, turned over the package and put a brand new label on.


A brand new label with a best before date of Feb.3, 2008. One year, six months and a day after its original best before date.

Welcome to Gino’s* “as long as the customers don’t know, it’s” Fine Foods.

(*Of course it’s not called “Gino’s”- I’m trying to cover my ass a little bit.)