so there i was shopping for the pad, u know the essentials, soup, chicken, and meat... when i caught a whiff of something rotten.



i had walked up to the meat section at Geant Supermarket (now operated by Sultan Supermarket [a kuwaiti chain]) at City Mall Dora, called on one of the butchers and asked him for a 'filet'.
he picked up a vacuum packed piece, from amongst about a dozen packs, and proceeded to open it on the wooden cutting board.
after slicing the the fat off with his knife he asked me how i wanted it, to which i responded in 200 gram parts.
he cut a piece and placed it bare on the metal of the scale to get an idea of the size / weight ratio for the rest of the parts.
he then proceeded to cut the rest of the filet into parts, then packed, weighed, and priced the whole.

i caught a whiff of something rotten when he handed me the pack over the counter - i disregarded it as insignificant at the time.

the checkout lady picked up something too, as she sniffed her hands after passing the meat over the scanner.

once home - 20 minutes later - i opened the pack and BAM it hit me like a doubledecker bus... the stench of rot, much like egg rot...

i was still in denial, since the meat looked ok, so i picked up a piece and asked my neighbor to smell it... she almost passed out. her exact words were, "get it out of here!"

seeing as i had paid around 20 USD for the filet, i felt it my duty to not let this pass quietly.

so i got in the car and drove back to Geant (Sultan) with the meat tightly sealed in a plastic bag (as is in its original packaging).

once there, i approached the customer service counter and asked that i speak with the manager.

when the manager arrived i explained to him that not 30 minutes ago, i had purchased this (gave him the bag) meat from Geant (Sultan) and it was not only bad, but by the smell of it, it most likely would have sent me to the hospital upon consumption.

the manager responded with, "was it vacuum packed?" yes, i responded, the butcher opened, sliced and cut it up in front of me.

to which he replied, "if it was vaccum packed, then we're not liable... it happens"

"it happens???" i thought to myself.

so i asked him, "are you telling me that the meat that your butcher opened, sliced and cut in your very own meat section is not your liability?" "what would have happened had i eaten the meat and gone to the hospital?"

he responded with, "you want us to cook the meat and eat it together, nobody will go to the hospital" "if you want, we can exchange the meat for you, or reimburse you"

at that point i realized that he wasn't particularly concerned, so i said, "you seem more concerned with getting rid of me than with dealing with the problem, which by the way, is much larger than a guy complaining to customer service about his meat, your butcher used his knife on this meat, he put this meat on the cutting board, and weighed it bare on the metal scale... and didn't wipe down, disinfect, or clean any of these items after processing my meat, so if this meat is in any way infected / infested / dangerous, so will all the meat become that passes through that butcher's workstation."

"you've lost a customer for life, not because of your bad meat, but because you are unwilling to acknowledge that it is bad which puts a lot of people's lives and health at risk, and i assure you that once i tell my mother (2immeh), and she tells her friends over coffee (niswen el foron), you're going to have a real problem on your hands - angry Lebanese mothers, wives, and tantet"

"so good luck and you can keep your money, my conscience is not for sale"

tags: geant supermarket, sultan supermarket, kuwait, city mall, dora, beirut, lebanon, lebanese, meat, rotten, infected, infested, bad, damaged, dangerous, rotten eggs, stench, health hazard, bio hazard, july 2008

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