Thursday, December 10, 2015

Six Sentence Story: Health Standard

"Health inspector at the store next door, and I know she's coming here next, get the boxes moved now," Kay, the manager, was saying as she came, full steam ahead, through the front door of the shop and plowed right on through the swinging doors into the back; she's a tall, substantially built person, so when she comes through, you know it and whatever she says to do, you do it.

Several of us dropped whatever we were doing and started moving the cake boxes from where they are assembled in the front of the store into the racks and any other available space in the back area.

This made me wonder, so once we'd gotten them all moved, i ventured to ask what it is about having boxes in the front that made health inspectors cranky, as i wanted to know if this watching out for the health inspector was going to be normal operating procedure.

"They don't care where we assemble them," Kay said, "it's where we store them that counts once they are put together, and they don't want the assembled but still empty boxes up front where 'anyone, including the general public, could mess with them.'  They want us to move the boxes to the back where we put product in them as soon as they are assembled, not even keeping them behind the counter up front, and it's just not practical for us to assemble a box, bring it back here, go back up front and do  another."

We keep a clean store, i know, i've scrubbed the floors and walls myself and i sweep out the chiller once a week, but again i am reminded that the health inspectors' standards are not always logical, but must always be followed anyway.

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Standard.


Today is:

Chief Red Cloud Day -- marking the Sioux leader's death in 1909; defender of Native rights, son of Lone Man and Walks As She Thinks

Clute's Christmas in the Park -- Clute, TX, US (food and fun; through Sunday)

Constitution Day -- Thailand

Dewey Decimal System Day -- anniversary of Melvil Dewey's birth

Do Something Wild and Crazy with Velveeta Day -- guess they mean besides turn it into Hillbilly Hor d'oeuvres (melted with Rotel and served with chips)

International Animal Rights Day

International Human Rights Day -- anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

Lux Mundi -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring Libertas as the bringer of light into the world)

National Lager Day

Nobeldagen -- Sweden (Alfred Nobel Day, presentations of the Nobel Prizes at the Stockholm Concert Hall)
     Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony -- Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

Sister-Friend Day -- internet generated, but if you have a sister who is a good friend to you, it's worth celebrating

St. Eulalia of Merida's Day (Patron of runaways, torture victims, widows; Merida, Spain; Oviedo, Spain)

Thomasville's Victorian Christmas -- Thomasville, GA, US (relive Christmas past all through the downtown area; through tomorrow)

Whirling Dervishes Festival -- Konya, Turkey (through the 17th)


Anniversaries Today:

Mississippi becomes the 20th US State, 1817


Birthdays Today:

Raven-Symone, 1985
Bobby Flay, 1964
Kenneth Branagh, 1960
Susan Dey, 1952
Gloria Loring, 1946
Dan Blocker, 1928
Harold Gould, 1923
Dorothy Lamour, 1914
Chet Huntley, 1911
Hermes "Pan" Panagiotopolous, 1909
Mary Norton, 1903
Melvil Dewey, 1851
Emily Dickinson, 1830
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, 1787


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Wings Over America"(Album release), 1976
Lawrence of Arabia(Film), 1962
"The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" (TV), 1955
Grand Ole Opry (first radio broadcast), 1927


Today in History:

Martin Luther publicly burns the papal edict demanding that he recant, 1520
Isaac Newton's paper De Motu Corporum in Gyrum, containing the derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, 1684
The Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes the first American Colonial government to borrow money, 1690
The metric system is formally established in France, 1799
The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London, 1868
Women's suffrage is granted in Wyoming Territory, the first in the US, 1869
Women are granted suffrage in Tasmania, 1902
The 10,000,000th Model T Ford is assembled, 1915
The Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut, in Nashville, Tn, 1927
UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
Ralph J Bunche becomes the first black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950
The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia, 1981
The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland; the closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages, 1993
An archive documenting the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda is revealed in the capital city of Kigali, 2010

13 comments:

  1. You write really good dialogue, I am always struck whenever I read your fiction. I think you have a gift for it.

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  2. So many impracticalities in beurocratic situations.... Crazy stuff!

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  3. yeah… totally with z on this the bureaucratic* mind is not a natural or, for that matter, reasonable mind

    *…I went and copy pasted the word, I don't tryst the spellcheck lol

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  4. Health Inspector Chronicles. Let the drama unfold.

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  5. Girl, I want to hear more about the health violations.

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  6. I've dealt with many health inspectors through the years and you will do it their way for sure.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  7. I agree that you should write more fiction.

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  8. Ohhhhh red tape for no reason is always frustrating.

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  9. I think the fear engendered is intended as any breach that causes an accident or infection will look at the the most recent inspection to see if faults had been picked up then and acted upon. Shopkeepers should not have a friendly relationship with cockroaches and rats.

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  10. Official inspectors of any kind do have a way about them that proceeds their opening the door.

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  11. Love this description - she's a tall, substantially built person, so when she comes through, you know it and whatever she says to do, you do it. I think I'd like to be friends with her!

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  12. This scenario of impractical and unrealistic expectations is played out again and again by inspectors of every kind. I think they should require practical experience in the facilities they are tasked to inspect.

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  13. Ah the maze of bureaucratic meanderings ... and their gnomes ... inspectors ... and interesting tale and great dialogue. Bastet

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