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Extra olives

I nipped out locally for a spot of lunch (Sunday being a working day for the ranks of the self-employed) and was surprised to be approached by a middle-aged lady on a neighbouring table. She told me that much as she'd tried to like olives, she just couldn't bring herself to eat them. Would I like to take half a dozen or so off her plate? She didn't want them to go to waste. (Just in case I'm making her sound too fussy, the lady had polished off scrambled eggs on toast and the best part of a salad. Only the olives remained.)

Now, I don't want to look like a hypo or a hygiene freak, but you just don't take olives off strangers' plates.

At least, I don't.

I made a polite excuse, but it did make me think. If it was ok for me to eat the olives, then surely they could have been tipped back into the dish on the counter for any other customer to eat?

Would the lady have considered proposing this to the owner of the café? And would the owner have accepted? Answers on a postcard to the Environmental Health office.

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