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Original poster

I'm not being weird thinking this is a bit odd, am I?

110 replies

MrsChemist · 20/01/2011 18:17

Went to the shop to pick up some bits, and when the lady was packing my bag she asked me if it was ok to snap a baguette in half so it would fit in the shopping bag. She then added, 'or you could have it sticking out of the bag,' in a tone that seemed to say that letting it stick out would be pure madness.

It's not angered me or anything, I'm just wondering if it's odd for shop staff to essentially, cheerfully offer to damage shopping for their customers.

I declined, and put it under my pram. She seemed a tiny bit put out that I didn't take her up on her practical offer.

It was weird, right?

OP posts:

HopingForAZoo · 21/01/2011 02:49

Am hooting loudly with laughter at this thread.

Truncated baguette
Penne into cous cous

So funny.
I would think she was quite odd indead and probably wouldn't be ably to make it away without her seeing me snort laughing.

Original poster

MrsChemist · 21/01/2011 03:57

Snapping one's own baguette sounds to me like a more modern version of hoisted by one's own petard.

OP posts:

echt · 21/01/2011 04:26

This is not AIBU, but YANBU. I'm going for lots of last posts at the moment.

PurpleOne · 21/01/2011 06:00

snap my baguette and I WILL KILL YOU

giraffesCantDirtyDance · 21/01/2011 07:07

what does petard mean? Never heard that word before.

EvelynTension · 21/01/2011 07:11

LOL

yes that's weird. It reminds me of the time I was told to prepare the baking potatoes in a restaurant and remove any little bits...I was so thorough that they were covered in tiny holes.

the chef had to make them into soup

Giraffes, hoisted by one's own petard means basically you have been given enough rope and do the obligatory thing with it...trip yourself up in other words.

EvelynTension · 21/01/2011 07:20

It's not quite 'do you want the hanger' is it.

Watch your cucumbers, next time.

TheSkiingGardener · 21/01/2011 07:48

I was offered this service once. I declined with a WTF look on my face. The beauty of a baguette is it's length.

snort at cucumber snapping

Mendeleyev · 21/01/2011 08:31

A Petard is an explosive thingy used in battles. If you set it off too early and you were next to it when it went off, then you would be lifted up or hoist by the blast.

mincenmash · 21/01/2011 09:33

ha ha ha ha! That's got me laughing, aren't people funny. What else would they offer to snap or fold just to get it in the bag.

Heroine · 21/01/2011 09:45

baguette rage is so [courgette]

BuckBuckMcFate · 21/01/2011 09:46

Baguette breaking is bonkers!

I am going to make a confession of my dimness now, I knew what the expression 'hoisted by one's own petard' meant as in trip yourself up, however, I didn't know it was an explosive. I've always imagined it to be a 1920's swimming costume/leotard type thing and it meant giving yourself a wedgie!

MrsEricBana · 21/01/2011 09:57

Was it raining and she didn't want you to have an, erm, soggy end?

(have to say I do jab my baguettes well down after an unsnapped one which must have had an uncharacteristically high centre of gravity escaped from my shopping bag while I was struggling to unlock the front door and made off down our hill. This has also happened to my raspberries - grrr )

MackerelOfFact · 21/01/2011 10:01

I think I was asked this once, and agreed not quite knowing what she meant. And then I was seething because I had intended to cut my baguette into 3 equal sized pieces.

Next time I go shopping I'm going to unwrap everything once it's been through the scanner, tip everything in my bag, and leave all the packaging at the till. I'm sure it'll fit better in the bag that way, especially if the liquid items permeate the porous onces.

Original poster

MrsChemist · 21/01/2011 10:07

Sounds like a plan Mackerel though it doesn't help the baguette much. Baguette packaging isn't very cumbersome to begin with.

OP posts:

mommmmyof2 · 21/01/2011 10:08

Thing is, its wrapped up so breaking the actual baguette is one thing but how was she going to break the wrapper properly?

FruitSaladIsNotPudding · 21/01/2011 10:16

Staff in my local sainsburys always offer to do this. Maybe a regional thing (although I can't think why on earth it would be!) We're in se London.

mommmmyof2 · 21/01/2011 10:18

I am going to request someone do it for me next time just to see what they say

Original poster

MrsChemist · 21/01/2011 10:20

I wonder how she would have done it?

OP posts:

EvelynTension · 21/01/2011 10:37

I think a petard is actually a device used to hurl explosives at a wall or building etc, a bit like a sort of catapult.

I could be wrong. You could easily be hoist with one if so.

belgo · 21/01/2011 10:38

I sometimes break them in half to fit them in a bag. Is this wrong?

They always need to be eaten the same day anyway so they don't have time to get dry.

Honeydragon · 21/01/2011 10:44

I can't afford a whole baguette to be snapped...not when it works out 11p cheaper to buy two medium ones

This works out better as it means the dog gets four noggins instead of two.

SoMuchToBits · 21/01/2011 10:45

I always imagined a petard to be some sort of flagpole......

SoMuchToBits · 21/01/2011 10:48

Dictionary says a case containing an explosive.

sue52 · 21/01/2011 10:50

I've been on Atkins for 9 days. I'd sell my soul for a baguette, snapped or whole.

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