New York Minute 188 - Banana Fiend

New York Minute 188 - Banana Fiend

I buy organic bananas from a food market in my neighborhood that sells them at a good price. Each bunch is pre-weighed and wrapped in plastic tape that’s marked with an item number and a bar code.

Frequently, the tape looks as though it has been tampered with. I suspected that someone was sneaking bananas out of the bunches and resealing the tape, but I couldn’t imagine why. If they went to the register with a loose banana, they would still have to pay for it.

One day, I spotted a middle-aged lady standing at the banana display. She was resealing the tape on a bunch of bananas. I didn’t want to approach while she was there, so I picked up another item returned to the bananas a moment later. Many of the bunches had been untaped. Some were resealed sloppily; other bunches remained open.

The lady, now standing about six feet away, was eating a banana. The way she ate it was unusual. Instead of pulling the peel back part way, she had removed the entire peel in advance. The banana was bare from end to end. A second bare banana lay on a paper towel in her shopping cart on top of some other terms. There was a sealed bunch in the cart, as well.

When she finished eating the first banana, she returned to the display and placed the sealed bunch onto a hook. She walked away and looked back at me. I glanced at her and then turned back to the display. I shook my head in disgust at the vast collection of molested bunches.

The lady walked toward me. “I didn’t separate them,” she insisted.

“I didn’t say anything,” I said without looking at her. I didn’t want an argument to ensue.

“I didn’t separate them,” she insisted again. “I just changed my mind.”

“I didn’t say anything,” I repeated dispassionately.

I glanced at her shopping cart. A peeled banana sat conspicuously atop her other items. I found an undisturbed bunch and walked away.