Caveat Emptor

Recently I was browsing at a local supermarket pondering what to concoct for dinner. During my reconnaissance of the seafood department I spied a cache of blue point oysters in the ice.

I adore oysters and this was an unusual find for this particular store. They were of good size with clean, in tact, and most importantly, tightly closed shells. This was a no-brainer. Oysters on the half shell would be my first course.

I asked the shady-looking clerk for a dozen, pointing specifically to the ones in the case. He seemed momentarily confused, wandered somewhat aimlessly behind his prep table, and then told me he had to go in the back to get the oysters.

RED FLAG! Why was he not simply retrieving them from the display counter? And here's an even better question. Why didn't I intervene and inform him that I wanted the ones in the display counter?

Hold on. My IQ drops even further. Finally he emerges from the walk-in refrigerator with a bag of oysters. My entire brain is screaming: "Check the oysters!" But one lazy, little brain cell won out and I proceeded to complete my shopping without giving the dubious bag a second glance.

Of course when I got home and began to prepare my oysters, half of them were dead. They were partially open and would not close.

Never eat clams or oysters that are dead before cooking. Angrier at myself than the store, I returned, showed them to the manager and promptly received my money back.

Caveat Emptor is a Latin phrase that translates as "Let the buyer beware." In essence, unless you are given a guarantee of quality from the purveyor, it is the buyer's responsibility to ensure that the goods are in order.

In simple language, you can't trust anyone. Be it malevolence, sloth, or incompetence, things get screwed up.

In the restaurant business, whenever food is delivered, it is someone specific task to appraise it before it is accepted. As consumers, we need to do the same in our supermarkets.

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