You can't buy that lime... it could be classed as a weapon

[Abin Sur]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063954/Asda-tell-chef-You-buy-lime--classed-weapon.html

A chef was stunned to find she was almost banned from buying two limes from a supermarket - because they could be classed as a weapon.

Marisa Zoccolan, 31, popped into the new Asda supermarket close to her home in Wallsend, North Tyneside, to pick up some groceries, including the citrus fruits.

But when she tried to pay for them at the self-service checkout, the message 'amount exceeded, authorisation required' flashed up.

An assistant then came over and told her that more than one lime was deemed a weapon - because the citric acid could be squirted in someone's eye.

(more at link)

[NV Whino]

1. I hope she wasn't buying pepper, too.

[BiggJawn]

2. England is getting just plain weird...

Why? Is the Gene Puddle drying up?

[LiberalEsto]

3. Weird limeys

To think the English got the nickname "Limeys" from giving their sailors limes to eat on long sea voyages, so they wouldn't get scurvy, a Vitamin C deficiency.

Scurvy wretches.

[Quartermass]

4. Now the stupidity begins.

The stupid overreactions, the generalizations, the panic to solve a problem that ain't a problem.

And so on.

Thanks to Pike.

Come on people, let's use some common sense about this and not do things like make limes illegal just because.

Because that route is truly a slippery slope in actual action. There's no telling how many things will be hurt or banned because some people have to panic and make a big hullabaloo out of this incident. Many items can be used as dangerous weapons. All you need is A few household chemicals in the proper proportions. See the slippery slope there?

The only person that needs to have some sort of penalty is that cop and the people responsible for him. Oh, and maybe the useful idiots who say that pepper spray is a food item. They need to stop downplaying it because they aren't helping the matter any and are just inflaming things even more.

Please, leave the food alone and let me have my limes. Or at least let me have my choice to buy them as I want to.

[saras]

5. My food coop sells bags of crystalline citric acid. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!!

A bottle of 150 proof liquor and a big bag of hot pepper from the bulk spice section - homemade pepper spray.

For that matter, you can club someone to death with a leg of lamb.

And what do they do if you buy a bottle of bleach and a bottle of drain opener?

[hunter]

6. They simply don't sell powerful bleach or drain openers in much of Europe..

Here in the U.S.A. one used to be able to buy dynamite at any rural hardware store. My grandfather had a friend who blew off his arm messing around with the stuff on the Fourth of July. (I imagine alcoholic beverages were involved.)

Things have changed a lot since I was a kid even. As a teen I'd drive to the farm chemical store for my dad and always pick up a few pounds of potassium nitrate for myself. I haven't been to a farm chemical place recently, but I seriously doubt they sell that stuff to sixteen year olds anymore.

[JanMichael]

8. leg of lamb...that was an awesome Twilight Zone episode

Barbara Belgeddes...wasn't there another star in it? Was that the one with Robert Redford playing the detective?

[rocktivity]

10. Bel Geddes was in it, but it was an Albert Hitchcock Presents episode

Lamb to the Slaughter (1958). You're welcome.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[JanMichael]

13. Thank you!

Far out!

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Reconstituting a Classic: Defending Yourself Against Fresh Fruit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWCBOsJr-w

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Everyone did see the bit saying this was a joke, didn't they?

'We know that sometimes health and safety rules can seem a bit plum crazy, but on this occasion it's a case of one of our colleagues indulging their sub-lime sense of humour,' she said.

'For some reason our tills are having trouble scanning multiple citrus fruits.

'We're working to fix the problem, but it seems our colleague tried to make light of the issue.'

Mind you, perhaps the spokeswoman should be arrested for those puns ...

[rocktivity]

11. Male cattle droppings.

'The assistant came over and tried to authorise it but the same message flashed up, so she went away to speak to someone higher up.

'I thought she was having a laugh when she came back and told me more than one lime is classed as a weapon...'


If the clerk had been joking, she WOULD have been able to allow the purchase. Besides, what else WOULD a spokesperson say?

:crazy:
rocktivity

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. The customer did not go to the manager

The assistant, who looked at the self-service machine when it wouldn't put them through, came back and said the joke - and then allowed the purchase.

I scanned the first lime and put it in the bag, scanned the second but then the 'amount exceeded' message came up on the screen.

'The assistant came over and tried to authorise it but the same message flashed up, so she went away to speak to someone higher up.

'I thought she was having a laugh when she came back and told me more than one lime is classed as a weapon.

'I asked her why. Was it because they can be thrown?

'But no, it's because they contain citric acid which could be squirted in someone's eyes. How ridiculous is that?'

Thankfully for Ms Zoccalan, who lives with partner Jacqui Nicholson, 37, and dog Doobie, the assistant allowed Marisa to eventually buy both of the fruits.

But people without that kind of sense of humour seem to find it more believable than 2 limes (but not one) would be classified as a weapon. :shrug: