Monogambutchery. Cheating and the meat man.

Lets see. No I didn't mention how I caught the butcher red handed tilting the scale on Tuesday. He pushed it down while he was weighing a chicken and pressed the button for the ticket while it was on the way back up. The ticket said the weight and I promptly weighed it again when I got home. Just as I suspected. 480 grams of pricey nonexistent farm-raised chicken added to the bill. I had a guest coming for lunch and didn't have time to go back and tell him off, and I was supposed to meet her, and I couldn't find my cell phone, and I had to get the food in the oven, and and ... I cut my losses and didn't feel too sad, you see, he actually made things easy for me. I have been trying to balance a relationship between two butchers for so long, it was all getting to be too much. I was freezing a lot of meat to keep them both satisfied. Sometimes I'd go in to one of their shops or another and buy a little stub of bacon just to mark a visit. By ripping me off right in front of me and then actually looking into my eyes, winking, and saying "a vous de jouer" (the ball's in your court...) when he handed me that chicken, he made my choice rather simple.

I was on the way home going past his shop tonight I decided after all I'd better say something and get it off my chest, because I'd been thinking about it. He didn't apologise or admit to even the possibility of a mistake. He said he removed the head and that counted for the discrepancy. Oh yea. A 480 gram head. "The next time I don't care, I'll just leave the head on!" he said. Ha! I had to laugh when I heard that. Next time. I walked straight to my straight-on butcher, and when I arrived, there wasn't even a line. I stood there and calmed down. Things looked particularly appetizing this evening. The meat seemed to be glistening and sparkling. I asked him if it would be alright to start a weekly account. He doesn't take the carte bleu, see, and I don't always have cash on hand. "But of course madame!" he beamed. "A weekly account would be fine." Very good.