I have a hundred of these blasted things.

At one point we had a customer run around our dairy department holding a dozen eggs screaming while a colleague looked on with distress.  Being used to dealing with such situations I headed over to help resolve things.  I went over and visited him.  His issue was that everything in the ENTIRE department was expired, or beyond the "best before" date.  Needless to say I was incredulous.  One or two items- Sure.  A single group of items- Sure.  The entire bloody department?  No way in Hades.

I venture a look.  Sure enough, the best before date is in June.  Here in Canada the format is "BB/MA 06-22" or something along those lines.  Each company do their codes slightly differently.

"These all expired in May!" the man declared.

This of course confused me.  It's not entirely impossible.  If the product isn't properly rotated an old piece might stay at the back for a long time and then get moved to the front or maybe it was stuck in the backroom for a month before someone put it out without looking at the dates.  It's unfortunate but it happens.

"Sir.  I'm afraid this package clearly reads June 22nd."

"No.  I know how to read these.  This clearly shows MA.  That's May.  This is five weeks past due."

"Excuse me sir?"

"Right here!" he states, pointing out the "BB/MA".

"Sir.  That stands for 'Best Before' and 'Meillieur Avant'.  The MA is 'Best Before' in French."

"I know what I'm talking about."

In short order, three staff and two managers later we simply had to ask him to leave.  When he did not we reminded him he was on private property, had been asked to leave, and that if he did not we would summon the police.

At long last he departed, screaming about how it wasn't over and that he was calling the local newspapers and that we were going to be very sorry when the store was shutdown for violating health statues.

At that point, there was no point in explaining that Best Before dates are not regulated by the government in any fashion.  Some people are just idiots.


(In fact, most eggs are good for WEEKS past their Best Before dates.  It turns out that most people don't have a clue and throw out millions of eggs each year and the companies chuckle gleefully and accept your money for replacements.)