Friday, July 18, 2008

Vegetable bribery?

Well - this is a first. Today during my library shift I helped this very nice lady find some books on nutrition. She was very energetic, and excited that we had a large selection (we have a nursing program so most of what we have is more technically-oriented than for a layman's consumption). She had a very thick accent, and so it was a bit of struggle for both of us at first to figure out what each other was saying. Finally, we got to the section she was looking for, and I had to leave her there because I was the only one working the front desk and had someone else waiting.

She came down with an armload of books, ranging from a juicing guide to a nursing-and-nutrition title. She thanked me profusely and headed out the door. Just minutes later she popped back in with a bag, and proceeded to hand me some tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. "I have a garden, and I have enough to share! Thank you so much! I will bring you more when I bring back your books!" I gave her my heartfelt thanks and told her it really wasn't necessary to bring more vegetables, but she said "No, you helped me! I will bring more!" So how do you handle a patron who insists on bribing you with fresh vegetables??!? ::haha::

Our college has a very strict policy about accepting gifts from vendors and other "people of influence", but I don't think patrons count. And on the whole I thought it would be quite rude to turn down this kind lady's offer, and I must admit if she brings some zucchini I couldn't say no to that either. 8-)

4 comments:

mousestalker said...

Cold sliced home grown tomatoes are about as good as life gets. Enjoy!

Zana said...

No kidding! My Brandywines in my own garden are still green and growing (though we're eating the cherry "sweet 100s" as fast as they ripen on the vine), so I definitely enjoyed some sliced beefsteaks this weekend. 8-)

Now if I could just figure out what to do with this 3-pound zucchini...

AvocadoDiva said...

mmm. Yum! Matt and I had some fried zukes the other night with yellow squash, onions, chicken sausage and cheese. It was fantastic and from a friend's garden.

I've heard that in some parts of the South, it's customary to "bless" a neighbor with your extra zucchinis by dumping them on their porch in the middle of the night. Can you verify this for me? Has it happened to you? :-)

Zana said...

Hmmm - well, it happens, but it's actually not typically anonymous. ::grin:: The three-pound zucchini was from a neighbor, in fact. I got FOUR LOAVES of zucchini bread out of it. Stunning, absolutely stunning. (Now if I could get the squash vine borers to leave MY zucs alone I'd be perfectly content....) Hope y'all are well!