we just had a ring on the doorball, from a chap selling door to door from www.goodtastefoods.co.uk. He had a van full of stuff, and we were interested enough to let him show us his wares.
he brought a heap of boxes to the house; he had salmon, tuna, hake and cod, and all the rest was ready-cooked. We don’t buy – or eat – ready-cooked food, as we’re lucky enough to have the time to cook most nights; and if we don’t, we take something we’ve previously cooked from the freezers.
so he was a bit disappointed that most of his offerings didn’t appeal. perlmonger and I were interested in the fish; it seemed to be from reasonably sustainable sources, but we were concerned about freezer space.
and “it’ll be ok if *you* organise it”, he said to perlmonger. I told him he nearly lost the sale by making stupid sexist remarks, and he was really quite taken aback. P pointed out that actually, it would in fact be much better if *I* did it. And I did, and 12 tuna steaks and 14 pieces of cod loin* are in there.
* I find it very difficult to think of fish loins, don’t you?
But then wouldn’t it be equally sexist to assume that you would deal with it as it’s related to food, a household issue? Damned if you do, etc. 🙂
Ah, rereading above, I see what you’re aiming for with the emphasis. Please disregard my flipancy.
you are forgiven 🙂
I’m not entirely clear about the location of the loin of the fish; pray enlighten me!
My favourite recent quasi-sexist encounter came in, of all places, H. Samuel in Folkestone. Like many women I know, I wear a man’s watch. Because a watch is something to tell the time with, not a bracelet with a tiny, tiny watch-face attached to it in case, heaven forfend I really do need to tell the time as well. I like to see the time at a glance rather than having to whip out a magnifying glass. So, I am in there asking to look at men’s watches because I need a new one, and she opens the case, and I start trying them on … at which point, quite clearly utterly baffled by this, she asks ‘is this a gift for someone?’ ‘No,’ I said briskly, ‘it’s for me’, at which point she went completely and utterly blank on me, as though the world would end if I bought a man’s watch. So I didn’t. And I didn’t buy a ladies’ watch either, which means I still needed a new watch which has been a nuisance (though I’ve just ordered one) but I’m damned if I’m going to give business to people who respond to a perfectly reasonable scenario like that.
It’s the casual, stupid stuff that really bugs me, like the fish man, like the people who believe that women choose kitchens but men pay for them (insert five-minute rant from friend who was sick of salesmen attempting to interest him in the new kitchen when he accompanied his partner to select one, because they thought that he was there to pay for it), and so on.
Much amused by the pick-up on the CFdev conference business, by the way. Let’s hope the organiser finally gets the cluebat when it’s splashed everywhere.
I find it very difficult to think of fish loins
That’s because you’re a sexist heterosexualist who refuses to accept the beauty of Finny Piscean Luurve. Now hows about these scantily clad roe-enhanced haddock with the fish-oil slammers?
damn
rumbled