Cutlery

So I went into the grocery store today to get some lunch at the cafe they have. Part of my lunch was a bowl of fruit. I asked the person at the counter for a fork, to eat the fruit with, but she said they didn't have just a fork, and hands me a plastic wrapped set of plastic utensils. Here's an exhaustive list of what was in the package: a heavy duty plastic spoon, a plastic knife, two individual packages of salt, and one of pepper, two thin napkins, and of course my plastic fork. All wrapped generously in clear plastic.

So then the whole time I was eating my fruit, I watched the opened plastic wrapper with the rest of the stuff in it, sitting on the table. It was a nice day so the sun was coming in the window and I was relaxing and enjoying myself while I ate, but the concept of the plastic bag being sealed up so you have to open all that stuff even if you just want to get one of the utensils out was still bouncing around in my mind. You can't return the rest of it, because even if you convince them to take it back, because it's unused and you're environmentally minded, they'll throw it away as soon as you turn to leave. And I can't take these home anymore, because my drawer at home is already filled with plastic knives and forks wrapped in plastic from just these kinds of occasions. But I don't think I've ever used any of them.