Supermarket Etiquette

I woke up ridiculously early this morning, think it had something to do with the fact that I went to sleep ridiculously early. Is that how it works? If my body needs seven hours sleep will it always wake up after it has had it's fair share? Something to investigate for the future.

Moving on, as I had woken up so early my morning was turning out to be a rather long one. By the time I had gotten ready, had breakfast and dropped my son off at nursery, I had been awake for over three hours - nearly the period between meals. So, on the way to work I allowed myself the luxury of popping into Tesco Express for a cheeky croissant.

Now, at the 'fresh baked' goods aisle, they have these lovely pastries all laid out and it is up to the individual to pick them up. They also have those tongs to pick said pastries up and place in your plastic bag. The croissant I had decided on did not have an individual tong. In fact, Tesco had saved themselves countless pennies by providing just one tong, across the whole aisle. Rather than try to stretch the implement to my preferred croissant, I simply picked the croissant up and put it in my bag. While I was doing this, I caught the eye of a lady nearby who looked at me in utter shock and disgust. I felt like holding my hands up and saying "They're perfectly clean!" but decided against it and carried on nonchalantly to the cashier. 

Was I wrong in using my hands? I hadn't touched any other croissant than the one I was taking so what has the problem? In our house, we use hands to eat the majority of our meals, after washing them of course. It's nothing new to me but I had never considered the extent of it till now. The supermarket have provided the tongs as a means to stop people putting their grubby hands on their products but consider this. You are at a posh event in which drinks and hors d'oeuvre are being served by waiters while people mingle. Is there a tong attached to the tray by which you can pick up your bite sized smoked salmon rolled with a pepper seasoned creme fraiche? No, and surely posh people know what they're doing by letting people (potentially) touch their hors d'oeuvres. Isn't that a euphemism...?