With Christmas on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking about what presents to offer and to whom.
Just like the old story of THE EMPEROR’S CLOTHES, believe it or not over many years a man made a fortune selling invisible goldfish which he promised no one would ever see.
Considering that people once bought pet rocks, which were exactly what they sounded like, it shouldn’t be too surprising that people went for a fish you can’t see.
The inventor of invisible fish sold people an empty fishbowl and some fish food and voila, you have an invisible goldfish that lives up to the promise that you can never see it because it doesn’t actually exist.
This man had also come up with Sea Monkeys that were given to kids as a birthday or Christmas present. This consisted of different species of brine shrimp supplied with a tank to fill with water and three packets, one of which would be a ‘water purifier’, the next would be the Sea Monkey eggs and the last one was a pouch of food with a little spoon to pour it into the tank.
As long as you remembered to feed them and avoid knocking over the tank you get your own mini-aquarium of Sea Monkeys.
Some people remember the joy of watching them grow and develop.
Indeed if you freeze, completely dry or remove oxygen from Sea Monkeys their bodies basically shut down for a time, meaning when you put them into the water they’ll come back to life again.
You’re not so much pouring eggs into the water to hatch as you are waking up the Sea Monkeys.
Other zany gifts for children from this stable included X-Ray specs that were supposed to let you see girls naked through their clothes (this might have come a cropper these days with the sale of goods Act) and a monster card that would grow hair when you added water and, of course, the ‘invisible goldfish’ which was just a fishbowl and some food.
In the second hour of today’s programme we looked at tips of various kinds.
It seems that some American restaurants are automatically applying a service charge in addition to encouraging patrons to tipping staff individually.
And some of the service charges are not exactly cheap.
A customer at the Sugar Factory challenged a staff member to explain just what constituted a $44 charge added to the bill, and described as a gratuity, only to be told that they automatically apply a charge for service, but that customers were still free to tip individual staff if they wished.
Of course some tips take different forms like the the story of an unwanted extra supplement which was included in a salad served by an American food chain.
Allison Cozzi from Greenwich in Connecticut was tucking into a salad in April, that had been prepared by the aptly named restaurant, CHOPT, when she realised that she was knawing on a human finger that had been mixed into and included in the repast.
Apparently this extra item had been provided by an unidentified manager who accidentally severed her finger whilst preparing the dish.
It seems that whilst said manager was treated in hospital for her injury, her finger was served up as part of the meal.
After investigating the incident, The Westchester County Department of Health fined the restaurant $900.
Meanwhile the diner has filed a law suit seeking unspecified monetary damages, claiming that she is now suffering from injuries including shock, panic attacks, migraine, cognitive impairment, nausea, dizziness, and neck and shoulder pain as a result of tucking into the contaminated salad.
Interestingly this is not the first time that diners across the United States have found fingers in their food.
In 2016 a pregnant woman from California claimed she’d found a bloodied fingertip in a salad at an Applebee’s restaurant in Paso Robles.
In 2012, a Michigan teen found a finger — including a knuckle — when he bit into his Arby’s roast beef sandwich, and in 2010 a Florida woman sued IHOP after she allegedly found the severed tip of a human finger in her fried chicken green salad.
Meanwhile back in 2005 a man allegedly found part of a severed finger packed inside a pint of frozen custard he’d bought from a Kohl’s Frozen Custard shop in North Carolina.
So if you want some unusual extras in your food you now know where to go!
All being well I hope to have the pleasure of your company again tomorrow – no tips are necessary or required,
Scott
