So you think

[bfogg]

I was just at lunch at a sandwich shop in town having a cup of soup.

The people at the table next to me got up and left. The lady at the table in front of me got up took her plate over and scraped their uneaten food onto her plate sat down and ate it!!!!! OH!

One of the few times i have been speechless......

Of course now i feel sorry for her.

Bon

 

[strass]

Waste not, want not.

 

[txminipinto]

Gross!

 

[Charley]

It happens. Not too long ago, there was a talk show...not sure which one...where people go through trash from restaurants and grocery stores and take what they find. They showed a lot of people going through the dumpsters ... and trading things that they had found for other things people had found. They had a regular cycle of dumpters that they frequented.

A lot of people can't afford good food...but it was surprising on this talk show that some people can afford to shop but prefer to dumpster dive.

I don't judge these people one way or another....I hope I never have to find out what it is like. I wish them the best and if I do see something like that I would, descretly, pay their bill.

 

[minih]

Very sad, she must be very hungry to have done that.

 

[Mona]

O M G !!!

 

[mininik]

Beats starving.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Goodness!

Bonnie said this lady was at another table in the sandwich shop, I believe? Doesn't sound like a homeless street person (as they usually don't have the wherewithal to purchase a meal or ?? in such an establishment, do they? )

I guess I can 'understand' if one is truly hungry, but boy -- that could be very dangerous to a person's health. To many of us, the thought is just gross, but ---the person who left uneaten food could have a transmissible illness!

I know--if you are starving, I imagine it wouldn't make any difference to YOU, but still.....it's a choice I'd hate to have to make.

Margo

 

[lilhorseladie]

Reminds me of a Grad student when I was in college. When I was finished eating a hamburger, he said are you done with that. I said yes, he picked it up and ate the rest! We weren't dating, just friends. I thought that was pretty strange.

It takes all kinds!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I had the same thought as margo, what about the risk of catching something. I know steert people and those who are just plain down on their luck are forced to do some things the rest of us would be unwilling to do but if I could a fford a meal I sure wouldn't take a chance on eating some strangers left overs.

 

[bfogg]

Having been hungry myself growing up and working in a school I am pretty aware of someone in need or hungry kids.I'm pretty good at recognizing that.

She did not look the part at all. In fact I would of thought she looked more like a yuppie.

That said i understand you can't always tell.

If i thought she was in need I would have paid her bill or rather just told Bill I will pay for it later so as not to make her feel bad.

I do feel bad now, but it just surprised me I have never seen anything like that I guess.

You know me, country, hick, maybe even naive but havn't seen that before.

 

[mininik]

You know they are putting people up in parking lots who are living out of their cars in nice areas of California. The woman might have just lost her home, not her things. Poor people can still buy a pop or cheap item off the menu at a nice eatery. That may have been what she was doing there while waiting for someone to leave their food.

 

[The Simple Life Farm]

I would have been speechless, too. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do...... but it would have shocked me to see it happen.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I don't know...it drove me NUTS to see the amount of waste when I worked at my college cafeteria for a quarter!

People would carelessly grab all this food then only eat a little of it and we were absolutely required to throw out all this perfectly good food that no one had even touched. All they'd done was move it from the serving tray to their plate. I could have cried and finally quit because I couldn't stop thinking about all the waste as we threw out bag after bag of perfectly good food with each meal. I was about ready to go dumpster diving myself because it was just ridiculous!

The threat of disease is about all that would stop me from cleaning someone else's plate if the food was still good. If it's a side-dish they never touched, I would anyway!

Leia

 

[horseplay]

Years ago I managed a high end restaurant and there were a few of the wait staff that would eat things off from plates they had picked up off the tables they were serving. There was one guy who always ate the left over steak, no matter how big or small the piece. Mind you none off these people needed to do this, they all made good money and had what they wanted and all came from well off families (didn't grow up hungry and picked up the habit that way) I am positive I would have to be mighty hungry to eat off from a strangers plate or even after a friend for that matter.

. If this woman was hungry and couldn't afford food then that is terrible but if not it's just gross but to each their own. I did see the special where people go through dumpsters instead of grocery stores. Just not my thing I guess.

 

[Miniv]

It happens. Not too long ago, there was a talk show...not sure which one...where people go through trash from restaurants and grocery stores and take what they find. They showed a lot of people going through the dumpsters ... and trading things that they had found for other things people had found. They had a regular cycle of dumpters that they frequented.

A lot of people can't afford good food...but it was surprising on this talk show that some people can afford to shop but prefer to dumpster dive.

I don't judge these people one way or another....I hope I never have to find out what it is like. I wish them the best and if I do see something like that I would, descretly, pay their bill.

What you're describing is what people often call "Gleaning". It seems to be more and more common behind grocery stores in the larger cities.