To test or not to test - that is the question...

There she stood, beside the checkout at the local greengrocer's.
Plunging her hands up to the wrists into a big foam box of fresh black olives on sale.
 

Someone's Nanna. Someone's Mum. Someone's 'best cook in the world.'
 

I watched with intrigue. Discreetly.
 

But interest soon turned to disgust as she proceeded to squish one of the olives between her fingers.
 

She momentarily stared at the mush, and then calmly, carefully and deliberately pushed it through the remaining olives and into the bottom of the box.
 

Then, with merely a glance left and right, she was gone - presumably to see what else she could squish or squash.
 

It is one thing to test a product before purchase, but it is an entirely different matter when that product is produce.
 

The most disgraceful part of this story was that in Madame Consumer's seemingly important quest for the perfect olive, she quite openly contaminated the remaining contents of the box for other prospective buyers.

There have been too many stories on too many current affairs programs on this very subject.
But surely, I can hear some of you chime, the customer has a commerce-given right to try before he or she buys??
 

Good point.
 

However, I suspect there might be more than a few greengrocers out there who can offer a distinctive counter-cry on the rights of the seller.
 

There is a solution. And the good news is that it can be summed up in one word - ASK.
 

Ask for permission to "try" the produce. Ask the staff. Ask the supervisor. Ask the manager. Ask whoever is around.
 

And if, for some reason, you feel that you can't… well, I think you have your answer anyway.