An Unsuspecting Fashionista

Last weekend my wife and I were shopping at one of her favorite stores. Her sister and nephew were coming into town from Germany and she wanted to spruce up the guest room with some new pillows, bed spreads and curtains. Reluctantly, because it was not the manliest thing to do, I accompanied her on this trip to the store.

There I was wandering around checking out my phone for e-mails and playing Words with Friends. My phone battery got low so I put it away and started to look around the store. When I look around, usually my health Inspector instincts take over and I really start to micro-observe. I was by the glassware display and there, up high on the shelf, were several mouse droppings. They were scatted sporadically between the glasses. I couldn’t believe it because they were in plain view and the more I looked the more I saw. Then I came across some pretty big pieces of poop. Was it the Easter Bunny? Bigfoot? Not really, those looked like rat droppings. They were dark, shiny and fresh with rounded, pinched ends. Further down the aisle near the sheets were some bright blue droppings. Were those rodents from outer space you ask? No, that is indicative of blue poisonous bait that has been consumed and ingested. This is a good thing because that means death is near. But, it was bad thing that this store was lacking sanitation and pest control practices. I showed my wife, and then the phone camera came out. With the last ounce of battery energy, this is the photo you see with this blog. It’s not the best pic, but you get the idea.

When we were on our way out of the store, we continued to see droppings all along the floor/wall junction and display shelving. With the sheer volume, the place must be infested. I wondered to myself what the other stores in the strip mall were experiencing, especially the ones that served food?

In the front of the store by the registers where they sold the bags of chips, the bottom display shelf was empty. Wanna know why? Because… the unsuspecting fashionistas were enjoying the chips as well. The chewed pieces of packaging told the tale. I guess store management didn’t realize that mice and rats can climb as well as they can spread disease. Another thing that store management didn’t realize or cared about is the fact that they had a big rodent problem.

To the store my wife and I were in last weekend, shame on you, and I hope you get what is coming to you.

It doesn’t take a Diva to understand that it is unfashionable to be dirty and over-run with rodents.