People need to think more outside the box with eating in hot weather

Not your particular flavour of humour I take it?

You take a comment seriously that calls olives woke and mentions bougie candles

I eat exactly the same food in summer as I do in winter, and I eat salad at both times of the year (not always lettuce however). What's so weird about that? Restaurants and cafes serve the same type of food all year around.

Another grower here. This is my first year of growing lettuce and managing to get the succession planting almost right.

Also home grown lettuce has been a revelation, much less 'wet' than shop bought lettuce.

@UltraProcessedLifeGoals
people are sleepwalking through life? thinking they ought to buy lettuce?
what sort of remark is that?
do you only buy lettuce because you really want to, not because you ought to?
perhaps they too like a lettuce

i believe that supermarkets rely heavily on weather forecasts, sunshine, they get in the burgers

as regards abusive customers, it is not your shop is it, learn how to step back from the situation, learn de-escalation techniques. or just apologise..

Absolutely, loads of salads do not have lettuce - even a perfectly trad and simple (and perfect for hot weather) Greek salad. However, I still want to have lettuce or some kind of salad-y greens in the house - I DO have salad of some kind almost every day in hot weather, and also use it for sandwiches, wraps, rolls, chilled soups, smoothies, and tacos. I grow my own, and forage, but also have some sympathy if customers feel a little inconvenienced if the shop has literally no lettuce of any kind.

Of course, they should not be abusing the staff, though!

Most people purchase lettuce when the weather warms up because they think they ought to. Most people are sleepwalking through life.

This could be the beginning of the Great Lettuce Shortage of 2025, so have some empathy. What else can they pair with soggy, oversized tomatoes and salad cream?
Perhaps they think olives are woke?

Tapas and anti pasti are for the aspirational working class only. Not quite 'bougie candles',but close.

Abuse is never acceptable, you’re right.
But if supermarkets know there’s going to be a run on lettuce, or strawberries, at particular times of year, why don’t they stock accordingly?
People eat what they like. I’m not a huge fan of lettuce so rarely eat it, and have some growing in a planter in the garden if I do fancy some (far nicer than supermarket stuff). Why should they ‘be imaginative’ just because you think they should be?

Sounds like where the OP works doesn’t understand the basic dictum of “the customer is always right”.

If your customers want lettuce in their salads then that’s what you ensure you have well stocked up in hot weather. If your customers tend to only eat lots of salad in hot weather, again, you ensure you stock up accordingly.

Currently eating a salad - cous cous, walnuts, bell peppers, spring onions. No lettuce!

These people are weird!

Fresh, crunchy salads with a mixture of flavours and textures (no 2 the same) are my favourite meals. And I like to add nuts and seeds too. Mmmm....Why anyone would fancy say, a burger, in blistering heat is beyond me.

What are these people eating in the summer then?

I don't mind lettuce and eat quite a lot of it, but it's a bit boring. However, it gives the impression of a lot on the plate without a lot of calories, so I sprinkle lemon juice or balsamic vinegar on it and dig in. If I couldn't get it, I'd have cabbage instead. I like it more than lettuce, but it doesn't like me (nasty, colicky stomach pain) so I only have it now and then.

I think pps are right. As far as possible, you should eat what you enjoy and as to the strawberries in summer, if that's what people do, they are paying attention to seasonality and surely that's a good thing?

But why should people be more imaginative with food? To please you? I don't see what difference it makes if someone eats the same things every day or makes a new exotic recipe for dinner each day. There's no medals for it. Some people don't care about food. Some people have a limited budget and want to make things they already know. Some people are deeply unimaginative and like to live a predictable life, or enjoy small traditions like strawberries in Wimbledon week. Where's the crime in that?

Because people like different things? I like salads but would always have lettuce in one because I don’t like cucumber at all or raw tomatoes. It’s not because I’m not ‘thinking outside the box’, it’s what I like.

It’s annoying. Supermarkets purely exist for convenience, otherwise I’ll head to the local butcher or farm shop.

If the supermarket can’t deliver on something as basic as a lettuce, what is the point?

Most people go in with an idea of what they want to buy, they pick up a few items based around a particular meal, if a core component is missing then you need to change the meal and put bits back- it becomes a right faff

I rarely buy lettuce in the summer because it's so easy to grow. I always have some in a planter in the garden and pick leaves as needed. I buy it the rest of the year though. I enjoy lettuce in my salad, so shoot me.

I don't like lettuce really, I love cucumber so I do mainly greek style salads with feta and a little bit of patato salad pot mixed in.

To be fair I was outraged* to see Mini Eggs in the shop the other day!

*not really, I bought some!

What if people buy lettuce because they like it?

I’m interested in what other things annoy you. Out of season crème eggs?

Why does it bother you though? Eat what you want, let others do the same.

june is strawberry season

people are allowed to complain in the supermarket that the lettuce is all gone
whether they think outside the box is up to them,
what would you use in place of a lettuce leaf?
home made coleslaw? fair enough if people are having to resort to other foods but allow them to complain

when i was at primary school we used to have winter salad,