Food stories

Strange things people look for in the supermarket

klant Jumbo supermarkt

If, as a supermarket employee, you’re asked where the ‘f*cking liver sausage’ is, you might well look rather surprised. And yet: Vocking liver sausage really does exist and is sold at Jumbo. It turns out supermarket employees get asked about plenty of other strange things too. From ‘bowwel’ to ‘shrimp tubes’, these are the most unusual things people look for in the supermarket.

Foto van culinair journalist Sharon van Lokhorst

Our earlier article 11 products supermarket employees have no idea what you’re talking about received hundreds of comments on Facebook, especially from employees who were completely baffled when asked for breadcrumbs, duck legs or goat’s quark. But there turn out to be many more products supermarket employees have no idea what you’re talking about. And then there are also customers who like to prank them…

Fresh fries?

Years ago, a former colleague of mine from the produce department received a complaint that the “fresh fries” had such a strange taste. After checking together by the refrigerated section, it turned out the customer had thrown sliced rutabaga into the deep fryer. – Anouk Donders

Chicken tenderloins at Easter

My daughter, who worked stocking shelves at Plus, was asked about chicken tenderloins. She searched the store with a colleague. The lady who had asked came along politely. And every time they stopped at the wrong product, she would say, ‘That looks tasty for another time.’ My daughter said, ‘Mum, surely we don’t sell those?! Oh, duh, maybe at Easter or something.’ I said, ‘Sweetie, those are just pieces of chicken breast, chicken tenderloins, a particular part of the chicken. They’re in the refrigerated section with the chicken. Just like pork tenderloins.’ The logic of teenagers is wonderful! – Arianne Kloot

Fried egg

An elderly neighbor of ours once asked where the fried eggs were. She and her husband fancied a fried egg that evening, so she would just pick one up. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the store, because I would have loved to see the look on that employee’s face. He politely directed her to the eggs, but had to disappoint her by explaining that she still had to fry them herself. – Kim Elzinga

Bowwel

A customer asked for bowwel. In other words, bowl: fruit in juice. – Karin Mulder-boersma

Shrimp tubes

I once heard a young shelf-stocker ask his manager: ‘Do we have shrimp tubes?’ A customer was asking for them. It turned out they meant desiccated coconut. – Annet Wolters

Fresh ginger

I once put fresh ginger on the conveyor belt, which the cashier then threw into her trash can. – Cora Connaughton

Front legs or hind legs?

Someone asked at a supermarket whether chicken legs are front legs or hind legs. She went to get the manager. – Eduard Bolder

Afterbirth

On Mother’s Day, someone asked where the “mother cake” that was on sale could be found. – Roland König

Erotic fruit salad

150 grams of erotic fruit salad. They meant exotic fruit salad. – Andréa Raap

Vermicelli

Once asked for vermicelli and was shown to the spaghetti. – Diana Vd Berg

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Image: Jumbo, source: Facebook/The Best Social Media

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