There are certain informative facts in life we maybe don't want to know; information that makes you think... "I'd rather you not tell me that!" Of course that type of information is the most important and we should be aware so we're prepared. For instance, food shopping, we all have to do it. Whether we're physically doing it or paying fresh direct, we all rummage for our home sustenance. And recently some grocery store employees felt we should be made aware of a few things, from shopping with more smarts to what places to just skip all together.
Redditor u/Member-Chewbacca wanted everyone to be prepared before the sojourn for groceries by asking.... Grocery store workers of reddit, what is something you know that we probably shouldn't know?
Lettuce Kills...
GiphyYour green leaf lettuce was full of spiders and various other insects before we cleaned them. Pretty sure we got all of them. MiikeCan
I need medical assistance. MrFrazzleFace
Wash more than your produce...
You really need to clean the lids of cans before you open them. Truly. damelavenganza
This right here is super important, and not many people realize just how dangerous this can be, after Hurricane Maria, lots of people got sick cuz of rat/mouse pee thing due to uncleaned cans. Zundernietzsche
Such a Waste....
I used to work in a produce section of a grocery store back in the day. So much of the food gets thrown out as soon as it's no longer aesthetically in its prime. gpecho19
Freshness vs. appearance can be tough. Rotten food is usually ugly, but ugly food isn't necessarily rotten. I'll pass on the strawberries that have mold in the bottom, but a wonky looking sweet potato can still make some good fries. gpecho19
Hand Jobs....
We touch everything. Everything. All the cans, bottles, jugs, jars, snacks - everything you see stocked on the shelves has had at least 5 people touch it already. And we don't wash them. That's your job. Literally had a dude complain that I picked up his soda to bag it by the neck. Like, this is how I pick up every soda bottle? What do you think happens? They just float up to the shelf magically? Mr_Archer1216
Enjoy your grab....
GiphyAs cashiers, we were trained not to stop shoplifters. We could literally watch you carry something out of the store, and we couldn't run after you or tell you to stop. ferociousBirdThing
Meat is off the Diet!
I worked in the meat department at a higher end grocery store.
The marinated meat was meat that was old, but not bad. Old meat that was about to go bad was mixed in with the ground meat, either sold as is or made into sausage. It was suggested we tell customers the "best" option was what was going to go bad soon or what we had plenty of so we didn't run out.
None of these things are bad or wrong. It is how we minimize food waste, and how we minimize wasting the meat provided by ending a life. ullric
We've Been Swindled!
Buy the store brand/off brand basics, (milk, eggs, flour etc) It's literally the same exact thing from the same exact place as the more expensive brand name stuff. When I worked at a grocery store, we would occasionally get products with a label from from another store mixed in with our stuff. Also quite a bit of store brand/brand name stuff is made at the same facilities (with differences in recipes) This is not always the case but it happens more often than you think. Shay_da_la
Save the Kids...
Do not buy pic'n'mix. Those sweets have had so many grubby hands rifling through them, flies landing on them when kids didn't close the lids, probably sneezes on them... just don't do it. tragicworldrecord
The Bread and Butter...
The single most profitable items in the grocery store is a bag of ice, and a loaf of bread from a bakery. Ice can have a 100% mark up, and bakery bread can be 90% mark up. People just don't understand where grocery stores make their money. ChiSoxguy01
So serve tequila with fish....
GiphyA good portion of whitefish fillets (maybe 40%) came to us with at least one worm curled up in them. We did our best to notice them and remove them, but some go unnoticed. That's just a product of living in the wild.
Also we talk about you after you leave if you were rude. Arr0wmanc3r
A Publix Star!
I worked for Publix.
We are not as happy to be there as we seem. We are the Disney Land of grocery stores.
When hired you are literally hired as the "talent." F4ggotianne
A wasteland....
If you give the cashier anything to put back that's frozen, it is 100% going in the trash. In a very rare circumstance, someone is available to run it back to the freezers so it doesn't melt, but otherwise it just goes into our claims bin behind customer service. It sits there until someone empties the bin in a few hours and it goes to the back of the store where someone else marks it as unsellable and throws it away.
If you give us fresh produce, popsicles, frozen pizzas, ice cream, anything that we can't just set back on the shelf for whatever reason, it WILL be wasted. StrawberryR
We're Out! I'm Sure!
Giphy90% percent of the time when you ask us to look for something in the back, we already know we don't have it. aiecitay15
Cool Runnings....
Surprised I haven't seen this after scrolling a bit so I'll add it. This is true for most refrigerated products(yogurt, cheese, lunch meat, raw meat, lunchables, etc.) If the package is expanded its either been left out at some point and put back or is on the verge of going bad. Yogurt tops (the foil) should be slightly indented, not ballooning outwards. Same with lunchmeat packs or lunchable tops. LexieRae1172
Be Nice.
If you leave your cart in the parking lot, not in the corral, we all hate you on a deeply personal level.
The store is just disgusting. Clean everything when you get home. The people paid to clean after closing do not care and are trying to go home as quickly as possible.
Cashiers will notice you if you're buying condoms or pregnancy tests, even if they don't say anything. If you're rude, we will talk about you when you leave. Just please be nice. dryketchup
Crossing HEB off the list...
When I worked for HEB, the ripped meat packets would go back to meat market and reseal it and put it back on the shelf. You never know what kind of dirt from the belt that it may have been on. JunkBondJunkie
How Unfresh....
Everything in our bakery comes in frozen, even the few things we actually do bake in store come in as frozen dough first. People who have been ordering cakes or buying the Italian bread for years will sometimes decide to stop buying them when they find this out. Did they think the 3 people they see in the department baked the 3,000 products we stock on the shelves from scratch every day? Do they think there is an army of minimum wage workers hidden in the back lovingly kneading breads and whispering encouragements to cake batter as it goes into the oven? ohwowohkay
Recycle for Life...
If every grocery store is like the one I worked at, the amount of waste they produce will negate pretty much any efforts you can make as an individual to combat climate change. Maybe my store was just terrible but everything went in the dumpster. I tried to recycle as much as I could but it's an uphill battle when the rest of the employees don't give a crap. McWhiskey
Past Due....
GiphyI would say check the expiration dates. Sometimes there is a fresher product right next to one that is about to expire. Also one time there was an apple pie that was apparently in the cooler since 2015 and was found in 2018. Gentlemon4
Cross Contamination....
We get our produce delivered on the same truck as we get our raw meat and fish. Not a huge deal to me but I always thought the vegans and vegetarians that shopped there would freak out if they found out our store worked that way. blurryrhombus
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.