back to article Co-op cashier's breasts overcharged for fruit and veg

The Co-op in Jersey has launched an investigation into recent fruit and veg sales after it emerged that a customer had been overcharged by a sales assistant's breasts. A customer at the unnamed branch raised the alarm after she was charged almost £2 for a pepper that should have cost 79 pence, the Daily Mail reports. A …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Badgers

    Friday Already.

    Hurrah!

  2. Russ Tarbox
    WTF?

    Overcharged for a pepper?

    How? Peppers are sold by unit not weight. Scales should have had no effect.

    1. Richard IV
      Boffin

      Easy!

      Because not all peppers are sold by unit. Certainly not in my grocer, where they've reached an exorbitant price per kilo.

      Similarly not all tuna comes in flakes, as some of us know how to use a fork.

      1. Ian Oliver

        How much?

        Just a few days ago, I got a bag of six nice red peppers for a quid at Leeds kirkgate market. Even without such deals, they typically go for 60-70p a pound. Dunno what a kilo would cost as we don't have such fangled contraptions in Yorkshire.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Coat

          Speaking as a proud Lancastrian

          That surprises me not one bit :-P

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Words

    I'm guessing the choice of words was deliberate to encourage sutiable responses..

    "currently receiving support " = free industrial WonderBra ?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Typical HR

    if they'd offered her more support to begin with, this wouldn't have happenned!

    I mean an orthopedic chair, you perverts!

  5. Pinkerton
    Coat

    How many people will suggest...

    ...that is it now essential that we keep a very close eye on the checkout girl's mammalian protuberances in order to ensure no overcharging.

    The story was posted at 14:47 so I reckon, a mere 17 minutes later, at least 17 people have already suggested it - that'll be me and 16 others.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: How many people will suggest...

      This might be a fun time to let every repetition of a joke through. Then we can collate them at the end and one of you can put them in a graph showing their relative popularity.

      I predict an early lead for "you don't get many of them to the pound" or derivations thereof.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        That's an insult to Reg readers

        I don't know how you could even think that we'd be so predictable.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        I was thinking

        'unexpected item in the bagging area' myself.

        I await punishment

        1. Blue eyed boy
          Happy

          I was thinking rather

          Unexpected bag in checkout area.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "you don't get many of them to the pound"

        Was already in my head before i'd finished the subtitle.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        And here I was

        Just trying to keep abreast of the news...

        Erm, isn't that a kilo or something....who uses pounds?

      5. Mike Flex

        A fruit & veg story?

        > I predict an early lead for "you don't get many of them to the pound" or derivations thereof.

        You missed the preceding "Phwoar! That's a nice pear."

    2. Anton Ivanov
      Flame

      Depends where

      In some parts of the world that is indeed the case as this is one of the most standard tricks in the book to dupe customers and especially tourists. That was definitely the case 20+ years back on most Moscow markets. It was "the oldest trick in the book".

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Mammalian protuberances

      It's always a pleasure to see another Zappa fan in the comments here.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If I say...

    "Phwoar, bet you don't get many of them to the pound"

    Or something along those lines, do I get a flashing screen behind me and alarm bells and claxons going off like in QI?

    1. ravenviz Silver badge
      Troll

      Re: If I say...

      No.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    This space left intentionally blank...oh bother!

    Were they organic ?

    1. Captain Save-a-ho

      I salute you!

      Comment of the week, for sure...

  8. Andy 115
    Coat

    HR support as in..

    Heavy Rack?

  9. Graham Bartlett

    "currently receiving support"

    A little more support from the over-the-shoulder boulder-holder would probably have solve the problem in the first place.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How many do you get to the pound?

    And do you have to buy them in pairs?

    1. Ammaross Danan
      Joke

      No

      Not if you watch Total Recall

  11. Paul Johnston
    Thumb Up

    Magic

    Best piece of (viral?) advertising in ages!

    Bet the queues from blokes buying fruit and veg has gone up massively.

    One way to get men to buy their five-a-day

    1. Stratman

      title

      I suspect more than a few will be having one or more of their 'five a day' with the images of this.

    2. ravenviz Silver badge
      Go

      re: Magic

      At our local Tesco you're encouraged to help yourself: "Please place the item in the bagging area". I always have fun grappling with my clementines!

  12. SlackerUK
    Coat

    HR department....

    Surely support by Wonderbra might be more appropriate!

  13. LesC
    Coat

    Airbags

    You don't get many of those to the pound!

    Mines is the one with the old jokes in the pocket.

  14. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
    Boffin

    Basic science FAIL

    The rhubarb will still weigh the same whether it's overhanging the scales or not, unless maybe the scales are flush to the till surface and the 'barb is long enough to be supported by the till either side of the weighing plate.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      This is the fundamental problem....

      ....with till designs these days. Tesco (among others) used to have the scales at the side of the checkout operator, but that slowed things down, so now the scales are in front of the laser scanner and hence are easily leant on by mistake. Of course, you would think that the scales not reading zero under this condition would be noticed, but the scales readout is now cunningly hidden so that the customer often doesn't notice it. I like to check the scales show zero with nothing on them, but it's far more difficult to do that these days so many weighed items could be in error and I'd not be aware of it unless the difference made a huge increase in the price.

      Nothing to do with increased supermarket profits then, oh no!

      1. Mark 65

        Tesco scales

        When I last worked there pre-Uni (admittedly a fair while ago) the scales wouldn't weigh if they weren't zeroed

  15. Ian Yates
    Badgers

    Rhubarb

    "Rhubarb sticks are quite long and hang off the end of the scale"

    That there's good physics. Because, obviously, scales only weigh things occupying the space above the plate.

    1. Bob H
      FAIL

      Superfail.

      If the scales are flush to the counter, as in most supermarkets then they will receive support from the adjacent surface and that would reduce their measured weight.

  16. max allan

    Doesn't happen in Sainsburys

    I once leant on the partition by the till behind me's scales and was asked to move. Even though I wasn't touching the scales they seemed to get very upset if there was anything within a couple of feet.

    Maybe my arse is more of a threat to accurate weight measurements than this lady's breasts were....

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    We've yet to be told

    How much weight did they add?

    1. Annihilator
      Boffin

      About...

      £1.21 in peppers. Nip down to the co-op in Jersey and see what the £/kg is of red peppers and you'll have your answer!

    2. Fizzl
      Boffin

      Back of an envelope time

      The Internet seems to think the average weight of a pepper is between 100g and 200g so lets say 150g at 79p or about 1.9g per pence * 200p = 379.75g added. If I'm wrong all letters of complaint should be addressed to my GCSE maths teacher.

      Of course the next question is how much do they weigh over all. I'm led to believe methods that don't involve sharp knives requires the body part in question to be submerged in water and the answer comes from weighing the displaced water.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Eureka!

        I don't know about your maths teacher, but your physics teacher has a lot to answer for.

        1. Michael Chester
          Boffin

          The density of much of the human body is approximately that of water

          Though in this case, probably slightly less, so you'd get an overestimate, but it would still be a good first approximation.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Statics 101

    "Rhubarb sticks are quite long and hang off the end of the scale so they were actually underweighing."

    Rhubarb sticks that hang over the edge of the scales won't weigh any less unless the overhanging ends are resting on something that acts as a fulcrum.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      RE: Statics 101

      "Rhubarb sticks that hang over the edge of the scales won't weigh any less unless the overhanging ends are resting on something that acts as a fulcrum."

      Boffinery fail.

      The weight of the rhubarb sticks will not change.

      1. Blofeld's Cat
        Boffin

        Weight change

        Actually the weight will change according to local gravitational effects.

        The mass will remain constant.

  19. oddie
    Happy

    ooooft!

    Bet you don't get many of those to the kilo!

    ..what?? I'm european :D

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @do you have to buy them in pairs?

    or are they buy one get one free?

    1. Ammaross Danan
      Go

      No need

      No need to buy. I just married mine. It's one of those high-interest, permantly-accruing endeavours.

  21. lansalot
    Unhappy

    oh...

    I had the same problem with a popular sandwich topping, and some flowers....

    I told them .. you don't get honey or rose to the pound...

  22. Alex Walsh

    You don't

    get many of those to the 0.45359237KG! (well we are metric now days)

  23. Robin 1
    Paris Hilton

    Second time even funnier...

    Had a very similar situation about 15 years ago. Girl complained of random spaces showing up in her work as she typed.

    We replaced the keyboard twice before someone finally figured it out.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      About 20 years ago

      Hehe, ditto but we'd reloaded DOS and replaced the motherboard too because the lady in question was never there when we went to site. That was the same site with the infamous choccy starfish incident....

    2. Wize

      And I bet the IT department were always eager to help her.

      Unlike the poor bloke at the next desk who's PC didn't boot for 3 weeks.

  24. Cameron Colley

    Reminds me of the stories about women...

    ... whose space bars kept malfunctioning and typing rows of spaces when they shouldn't.

  25. SepticSceptic
    Paris Hilton

    The Stupid... It hurts!!!!

    "Rhubarb sticks are quite long and hang off the end of the scale so they were actually underweighing. Now we break them in two before putting them on the scales."

    Doh! knowledge of gravity fail.

    1. nickrw

      Re: The Stupid... It hurts!!!!

      If the scales are anything like the ones at the co-op down our way the 'scales' are part of the counter and have an edge round them which would support the rhubarb, thus reducing the pressure on the scales.

      Like you though, I did a double take when I first read it.

  26. TeaLeaf
    Joke

    And from the dusty depths of the archive...

    The apple of every man's eye, is the peach with the biggest pear.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Hugely disappointed

    Nobody has asked about the price of melons.

    Britney, cos she looks disappointed too.

    1. PsychicMonkey
      Paris Hilton

      Britney?

      are you new here?

    2. ElNumbre
      FAIL

      <-------- Non!

      Umm, that's Paris, not Britney.

      I know one French region is very much like another, but I know which one enjoys the Eiffel tower.

  28. hugo tyson
    Coat

    Can I weigh those...

    ...for medical science?

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  29. Anonymous John

    First with this one?

    At least the Co-op made a clean breast of it.

  30. The Indomitable Gall

    Unfortunate misreading

    "The assistant concerned was "mortified" by the incident, he said, and is currently receiving support from the Co-op's HR department."

    I thought for a moment that "he" here referred to "the assistant concerned". That would indeed be mortifying -- mega-massive-man-melons...!

  31. Tanuki
    Thumb Up

    2 for the price of one?

    What we all want to know is - would they be classified as meat or dairy?

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: 2 for the price of one?

      Christ.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Parev

        It only applies to goats.

      2. Sean Baggaley 1
        WTF?

        Not quite...

        ... but I can understand the confusion: A "joke" like that certainly deserves to be crucified and buried in a cave. Your mistake was in implying it should be resurrected three days later.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      re: 2 for the price of one

      obviously since they were sold by weight, there isn't a per-unit discount....

      ... but if I pay for them I think it is only fair that I take them home to consume in the privacy of my own home, as I think that they would make a fine midnight snack.

  32. Disco

    One word

    Playmobil...

  33. Andy 17
    Joke

    Well I for one...

    ..think it's nice to see somebody keeping abreast of their work

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Er, when I said 'check out those big baps'...

    Bip! Bip!

  35. Tony Green

    If it's in the Daily Mail...

    ... then it's reasonable to assume it's a lie.

  36. envmod
    Joke

    i wonder...

    how many customers were mystified to discover "large mellons" or "jumbo baps" on their till receipt despite not buying the aformentioned items.

    I'll get my coat.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: i wonder...

      It's funny because you can compare boobs to rounded or spherical food items and sometimes they are big which is funny also.

      1. envmod

        you understood correctly

        you correctly ascertained the reason my post was "amusing" - well done and thanks for pointing out it's comedic merits for those which might have been confused.

        MASSIVE TITS FUCK UP SCALES - News at 11.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Since they're on clearance offer

          I'll also have a pound of greengrocers' apostrophes, a packet of clause mis-shapes, and a spelling checker.

      2. Arctic fox
        Happy

        @Sarah Bee

        I fear that irony/satire are sadly wasted some - but respect for trying anyway.

  37. Mike Moyle
    FAIL

    So, is it safe to assume...

    ...that the posters who "corrected" the manager about weighing rhubarb have all of their meals out of cardboard boxes delivered to their caves and haven't actually stepped foot in a grocery checkout line in the last five years, or so? Otherwise they might have noticed that these days the scale is built flush with the counter to minimize cashier motion/save time/squeeze that extra penny onto the store's bottom line. This set-up, of course, means that overlong rhubarbs ARE, in fact, resting part of their weight on the counter.

    1. Jolyon

      ║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║█║▌│ - TITLE £ 0.02

      I guess they are all old enough to get out of accompanying their mums to the supermarket.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        0║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║█║▌│0

        A barcode? How does that count as a title?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Coat

          Not sure

          ...but I bet it scans better than some of the comments on here :-D

  38. Rick Byers
    Joke

    Job for the boys?

    I'd lover to be the weights and measures man on that job!!

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Any photographic evidence?

    or Other proof?

    <leaving the room briskly>/

  40. perlcat
    Coat

    Hmmm.

    I'd like to see that.

    Seriously.

    I'd like to see that.

    1. D@v3
      Stop

      really?

      Considering the advancing years of many of the larger figured ladies in many of my local grocery providing establishments, coupled with the distinct lack, of nubile lovelies, seeing this event is one of the furthest things from my mind.

  41. Watersman
    Happy

    I'd say...

    Pepper slayed by out of control Co-opper

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    looks like

    The HR department there is offering the breast support that they can

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wondered ...

    ... where Wacky Jacqui was working since she was booted out of her last job.

  44. Baskitcaise
    Coat

    Not one mention of...

    Meat and 2 veg?

    That's shalot!

    I thank you...

    Also available for funerals and vasectomy’s

    I'm going, the one with the pictures of unusual shaped veg in the pocket please.

  45. tim 4
    Troll

    i'd say its safe to say

    there was a bit of a rhubarb over the pepper, caused by melons [ and possibly jealousy ] , but solved by the store putting their best foot forward and uplifting the [ certainly non-offending ] rounded body parts in question?

    the only unsorted items appear to be :

    0: omitting this post.

    1:playmobil.

    2:pictures and diagrams if appropriate [ pg.3].

    3:the attempt to remove the mental picture of a pre-operative simona halep wearing a skimpy tesco-ish uniform from popping into our heads for the rest of the day.

    4:having several pints to discuss the relative merits of weights and measures and how they apply to common interests.

    5:the possible banning of most of us by the moderatrix for life after having risen to the challenge, which is surely a trap.

    6: trollkin, because this post really is across the yellow line...

  46. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    She called her supervisor

    I only said "hot jalapenos". I suppose she misheard?

  47. Mr Larrington
    FAIL

    This story...

    ...is useless without pictures.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Variation on a theme

    Reminds me of the "butchers' thumb" which always ensured that the customer got exactly the weight which they'd asked for..............

  49. This post has been deleted by its author

  50. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Coat

    Old joke

    Why did I think of the old joke about the Doctor and "Can I just weigh up your..."

    Oh yes, I'm a bloke and biologically programmed that way, I'll go now....

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nobody spotted this angle yet...

    I know where to go to get my plums weighed now...

  52. Fluffykins Silver badge

    It could all be explained if

    she was a bit short sighted and was buying a pair of melons.

    By the bye: My rhubarb hangs way over the edge of the scale.

  53. Fluffykins Silver badge

    And another thing

    Playmobil or it never happened

  54. Martin H Watson

    Did the prices go...

    ...t!ts up?

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Did the prices go...

      That's not how you use 'tits up'.

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Supermarket admits to fruit and veg boob (no not melons!)

    was my sub head on the round robin email...

    any points for originality without too much crudeness?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Bought peppers charged for melons

      so heres the head line to go with that sub head.

  56. Parax
    Boffin

    BBC Last liner is an absolute gem.

    "We are obliged under weights and measures law to ensure that things are appropriately weighed when they pass across these scales."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-11710712

  57. Martyn 4

    Re: Re: Did the prices go..

    yes, her tits down made the scales go tits up.

    still, nice to see HR are being supportive to her now.

  58. bugalugs

    Deja vu

    Strangely, something along these lines but a little more tech-y happened to me a little while back. Looking at my grocery receipt a red capsicum had cost AU$7.00. I returned and queried this and discovered that the ePos scanner had one of its feet on the ( flush-mounted ) scale adding quite a few grammes to anything weighed. Management were most thankful, as Weights and Measures are dynamite here in the antipodes.

  59. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    I was going to post a clever and tasteful joke

    but then I decided to go for the low-hanging fruit instead.

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