Sometimes the Scientist, Sometimes the Rat

Yesterday someone left an open bag of chips in the break room. According to the unspoken but universally understood rule, this means they're free for the taking, Other treats have been shared in this manner so precedence has been established.

So I grabbed a handful and went back to my desk. I was craving salt and the first chip hit the spot so I ate another. And a few more. But then I became aware of another flavor. Something was off with these chips. They tasted soothing akin to stale but different.

Then the red and green colors of the chips brought on an awful suspicion.

Walking back to the break room, the coloring and design of the bag elevated the suspicion to realization.



The date code confirmed the alarming and mildly disgusting truth: 12/28/11

They were beyond stale and left an icky aftertaste that only got worse.

OK, first, I'm an idiot for not immediately recognizing the red and green chips for their obvious associated holiday.

Second, who puts out a bag of Christmas chips in June?  Could this person really be guileless? This person really didn't notice the chips expired last year, or knew they were expired but thought people might enjoy them anyway? I began to suspect that someone was performing an experiment to see if engineers would eat any food left out. (The answer is, yes.)

Today a coworker went for the bag and I called his attention to the coloring. He asked, really? I nodded and told him to check the date code. He thanked me for the warning and threw them in the trash.

Having been the lab rat, I'm on the lookout for this evil scientist.

1 comment:

roan said...

It is possible that the evil scientist was once a victim of a pinched pastrami on pumpernickel. And could smell a rat thus his attempt at payback. You probably are innocent but I would watch the person that you forewarned of danger. LUV the prove you're not a robot word "Type two words" only has one 'ruchag' which I can only guess was originally 'lunch hag', very fitting, heh?