You know, sometimes, I think supermarkets do things just to annoy me. I’ve just came back from Tesco, as I needed a few bits and pieces, along with my latest fave food additive, namely “finger” chillies. they get their name because they’re roughly the length of your index finger. And green, unlike your index finger, hopefully.

They’re bloody hot, but they can really perk up something bland like a tin of supermarket curry, or a packet of rice.

the chillies are the little green bits.Don’t eat the seeds raw. I did. Once. No amount of water could put the fire out.

I was lucky enough to pick up the last packet of these finger chillies. I finish pottering around Tesco, and head to the checkout with everything I’d bought.

I pile them all up when I notice there were chillies rolling along the conveyor belt. Yup, that last pack was the last one for a reason. There was a great big hole in the thing. Before I’d realised, the lady behind the checkout had scanned them. Gah! Now, considering that these were one of the things I’d travelled 3 miles for, I turned down the offer of a refund, and asked if I could have a replacement packet. even though I knowingly picked up the last packet, I’d hoped that there was one I’d missed, or there may have been some “out the back”, or whatever.

While the gopher disappeared to fetch me my replacement, the rest of my groceries were scanned. I paid for them, and the transaction was complete.

The gopher returned empty handed, and it was too late to give me a refund, so was pointed over to the customer services desk, who would be more than happy to hand over 89 shiny new pennies for my faulty product.

Off I toddle, with the gopher who explained the situation to the angry looking woman behind the desk. I handed over the receipt. She scanned over it several times, like a headmistress scrutinising the homework of a slightly dim child. She pointed at the receipt, and looked up at me, as if I’d smeared shit on her sofa…

“There are no finger chillies on here…”

She was right. The lady on the checkout hadn’t actually scanned them at all.

I leave, and load my stuff into the car, only to see this staring up at me…

Seeing as they weren’t scanned in the first place, I’m now technically a thief, meaning that this chilli is ‘hot’ in more than one sense…

UPDATE: After it had stared at me, for approximately six hours, resting on that section of the keyboard, I washed it under the tap and ate it. It must have taken me about half an hour, but I managed it.