True story
THE DETAILS: Friday Fictioneers: 1 picture, 100 words, scores of people from around the world sharing their creativity and vision. Feel free to join in, just visit Rochelle Wisoff-Fields to find out how.
THE PROMPT:
This week’s photo, or more precisely, painting, prompt courtesy of Rochelle.
True story
Did I ever tell you about the time I was in a restaurant and there was a family a table away with a child in a booster seat?
The kid, bless his heart, was bored so the mom, bless her heart, unscrewed the top of the ketchup bottle, filled it with ketchup and gave it to her baby.
Maybe not so understandable?
The kid – like a pig in a puddle – licked that bottle cap clean and then the mom, bless her heart, replaced the cap onto the bottle.
That was the last time I used condiments on a restaurant table.
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Michael B. Fishman
Michaelsfishbowl 
Good grief. Well you have put me off the idea of using the ketchup in a restaurant if it is the bottle. Nowadays we are given satchels which are messy to tear open.
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Those are good but I just read that they’re in short supply because of the increase in ordering take-out food. I think a small travel-sized bottle of ketchup is the way to go. Thanks, James, for reading!
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Yikes! I think I’ll be steering clear of restaurant ketchup bottles in future.
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haha! Oh, so gross, but yes, bless her heart. Speaking of ketchup–I was at the grocery store yesterday and the shelves don’t lie–there is a ketchup shortage! Not a bottle to be found.
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Those are words that make this ketchup lover panic! I like Whole Foods 365 store brand so I went into my regular store yesterday and bare shelves. NOOO!!! I went to a different store today and was able to stock up!
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Promise no one has licked the sugar off the cookie?
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I hope not!
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Dear Mike,
I can’t imagine what that mother was thinking. Oh wait! Thinking had nothing to do with it, did it? Gives one pause about using condiments in a restaurant. Fun stuff and good to see you here this week.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Hi Rochelle and thanks! Just about everything in a restaurant gives me pause, but that’s just me 🙂
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Tell me this is fiction. Please
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At the top of the story is written True Story…
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No, it’s true. And it’s a memory that’s etched permanently in my mind!
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What in the name of hell? Never mind the grossness of replacing the licked-clean cap… how many germs were on said cap in the first place? Oh wait… I know. She was boosting his immune system! And giving a glop of ketchup to eat is disgusting… Watch this kid become a roly poly in the future. I am refusing to think about my future ketchup bottle having been pre-licked, k?
Love the Stompin’ Tom Connors!
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Thanks Dale, and I’m happy you liked the song!
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I did!
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As a college freshman, I worked in a grocery store. Stocking shelves one day, I saw a woman take a jar of peanut butter off the shelf, unscrew the lid, dip in with her finger, lick it off, dip in again. She put the lid back on, put the jar back on the shelf. Keep in mind I was only 18, new to the ways of gross and disgusting people. I was shocked. I took the jar to the office, explained, and the bookkeeper roared with laughter. “Just wait until you come across a can of Vienna sausage that’s been half eaten and then stuffed way in the back of the display! The smell is enough to make you hurl!”
Adults do the darndest things!
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It’s a wonder that the world keeps spinning with us in charge!
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🙂
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Oh wow… thinking back on all the condiments I’ve used over a lifetime!!
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If any of the cooking shows I watch are any indication of what’s going on in the kitchen then we have more to worry about!
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Gulp. Now I’m glad that I rarely eat out at all. Will never use Ketchup from a bottle in a restaurant again. And this was a fun write, very well done. Funny and gross.
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Thanks GaH!
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Yuk! Oh dear….
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If you hadn’t said it was true I wouldn’t have believed it. I guess we’ll be OK using the salt and pepper though!
Here’s mine!
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Salt and pepper? After you, my friend!
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When the “bless their hearts” starts, ya know it’s gunna be a good story. Then there are those folks who unscrew the caps on the S&P and leave them loose for the next person to discover, which is why so many of us trusting souls check the caps before using. Fun song.
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Hi Bill and thanks for reading and for the comment. I used to have a friend, many years ago, who would unscrew the caps of the S&P. Or he would pour out the salt and fill it with sugar. He would also tell the server how much money he would tip her before he ordered and then informed her that how much of that money she would receive would depend on how good her service was. He was kind of a jerk.
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You’re welcome, Michael.
I can understand a prank or two. But I’d never mess with people who handle my food. Payback can be the pits. 🙂
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Oh no, that’s gross. Thank you for the cautionary tale! 🙂
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Thanks Brenda! I’m always happy to help 🙂
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UGH!
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Wow! There were so many things she could have done. Asked the server for a saucer or bowl to put catsup in, brought along a small plastic cup. I don’t know if I’ll ever use a restaurant’s condiments again with this tale in my head, Michael B. Obviously, this mother didn’t think about the consequences…and now with the Covid-19 pandemic??? ~nan
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