ConProt
damn! this ConProt (Consumer Protection) post would be so much cooler if i were smarter, and had taken a picture before doing the return:

last night, we were preparing a lovely dinner of deep fried tofu chunks, wrapped in organic basil leaves, and dipped in a delicious sauce made by J from soy sauce, hot sauce, onions, and spices...

while wrapping the abovementioned tofu chunks in the similarly abovementioned basil leaves, J noticed that one of the leaves had a tight pattern of small insect eggs laid on the front 1/3 of it. it was, in a word, repulsive. (see what i mean? wouldn't it be better if i had taken a picture to post here?)

so today i took the basil leaves (a little over half were left) back to Trader Bob's (name partially anonymized to protect the insect-egg dealers), and they took it back without question. in fact, the guy running the customer service desk didn't even care to see the problem: he just said: "return? no problem, i'm just gonna throw it away..."

i nevertheless showed him the eggs, and he was also somewhat grossed out by it, but then said "is it organic?" while gesturing at the basil. i said it was, and he said "yeah, that's just the risk you take when you buy organic." WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? you mean when i buy organic it's no longer quality checked to see if leaves are covered in alien-looking insect eggs?

nasty. just nasty.