Spider in bananas

[filski666]

So story goes, woman working at supermarket finds deadly poisonous spider in box of bananas. Rather than stamping on it, she alerts her supervisor, who closes the shop and calls in the RSPCA, who then (as usual) fk about for ages trying to catch it because they are pretty rubbish at catching animals. Eventually it is caught (along with stories of it "rearing up, showing it's fangs and hissing") and taken away. All the while, customers who can't get into the shop say things like "let us in, we'll kill it for you" (presumably stamp on it)

anyway, RSPCA take it away and have it put down (presumably stamp on it)

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080905/tuk-dea...

So why didn't they just stamp on it in the shop?

As an aside - many moons ago I used to have a part time job at Sainbury's in the produce department, and we were always finding things in the bananas, including 3 Banana Frogs (a type of tree frog, which I took home and kept), a huge fk-off knife, several large insects (cockroach type things, several more large insects which had been wrapped in web by (presumably) one of these poisonous Banana Spiders.

ETA - this is what they look like by the way:



Imagine finding that in your bunch of fyffes!

video link removed because found out was of North American banana spider which is harmless(to humans) and therefore not relevant!

Edited by filski666 on Monday 8th September 13:02

[Steamer]

I used to have the 'Banana Stacking Job' too Hated the smell of wet boxed bananas.

Many a time we used to find frogs on them, but it was funnier when a customer used to find them

Ours used to be collected by the local safari park... to be honest I think they ended up as snake food.

[filski666]

Steamer said:

I used to have the 'Banana Stacking Job' too Hated the smell of wet boxed bananas.

Many a time we used to find frogs on them, but it was funnier when a customer used to find them

Ours used to be collected by the local safari park... to be honest I think they ended up as snake food.

While I was there, one of the other workers found one of the frogs once, I asked her what she did with it, she said (all proud like) I let it go in the car park.....ok, you have released a tropical creature used to high humidity and temperatures into a Sainsbury's Car Park in February (and there was snow on the ground at the time) - do you really think it will last long? - better to just stamp on it! (which is what a lot of the others used to do, incidently)

[Eddh]

Damn that thing is horiable I would scream like a little girl if I found that on my 'nannas

[groucho]

Shirley they would have taken it to some spider sanctuary or something, there must be loads in the UK.

[TonyHetherington]

We're not used to such creatures here though (so venomous and potentially dangerous, I mean) so if I saw something like that I'd not think much of it.

Incidentally it was found about 1 mile away from where I'm sitting at the moment.

Hang on...what's that?

[filski666]

I actually used to "look" for them - spiders, frogs, insects anything I could find. I told my manager I was checking them for the benefit for the customers, but was told to stop as he didn't care if the customers found a dirty great hairy poisonous spider.

fair enough, I was only really looking to add to my "pet" collection anyway........

[The Count]

Steamer said:

I used to have the 'Banana Stacking Job' too Hated the smell of wet boxed bananas.

Me too. It always had the aroma of bum.

[filski666]

groucho said:

Shirley they would have taken it to some spider sanctuary or something, there must be loads in the UK.

that's what I would have thought (at least officially) - but the news report said it was "put down" - I assume they meant euthanased, not literally put down on the floor to scuttle away!

.....probably aren't many "spider sanctuaries" around anyway - they only do sanctuaries for cute fluffy things don't they?

[Hyperion]

filski666 said:

While I was there, one of the other workers found one of the frogs once, I asked her what she did with it, she said (all proud like) I let it go in the car park.....ok, you have released a tropical creature used to high humidity and temperatures into a Sainsbury's Car Park in February (and there was snow on the ground at the time) - do you really think it will last long? - better to just stamp on it! (which is what a lot of the others used to do, incidently)

Stamping on a frog would make an awful mess would it not?

[mel]

The "Jamacian Products" JP bannana factory is just down the road to me, apparently it's an almost everyday occourance in there! But having seen the staff at shift change time frankly nothing would suprise me! I can only say that the employees are almost exclusively afro caribbean in appearance, now whether most of them have found themselves there by accident in the same way the spiders do or if they are employed because they have experience and can tell the good beasties from the dangerous beasties I've not the faintest idea but one thing's for sure if someone did an ethnic origin study on the workforce it's most deffinately slewed in one direction!

[Huff]

Where I did the banana-stacking thing as a stoodent we had a big glass aquarium. All such finds were your responsibility to catch, and add to the tank with the frogs, locusts, bugs etc.

The spiders always 'won'

Edited by Huff on Monday 8th September 12:36

[shouldbworking]

During my shelf-stacking days this was a regular occurence. Youd get all sorts of nasties in the boxes. theyd just get stamped on and / or thrown in the direction of the nearest colleague.

[daveco]

*checks banana drawer with knife in hand*

[LeoZwalf]

I worked at Waitrose for nearly 3 years and often stacked the banana shelf (that sounds like some kind of metaphor... it isn't) and in all that time only found one spider which was dead. Was a biggun though (the spider).

Very interesting reasons why damp 'nanas smell like bum, thanks for that BR. If you hadn't told us, I'd never have known that. Real interestin', like.

[filski666]

LeoZwalf said:

I worked at Waitrose for nearly 3 years and often stacked the banana shelf (that sounds like some kind of metaphor... it isn't) and in all that time only found one spider which was dead. Was a biggun though (the spider).

Very interesting reasons why damp 'nanas smell like bum, thanks for that BR. If you hadn't told us, I'd never have known that. Real interestin', like.

most stuff that comes through is dead because the packing companies are supposed to smoke the critters out - however, I believe the frogs just hold their breath, the insects just get high and the spiders are just too damn hard to care.

[bob1179]

I worked at Sainsbo's for almost 6 years and I never found anything of interest in the banana's.

Though this may be because I used to hang around the chest freezer aisles on the hunt for peanut smugglers.

[LeoZwalf]

Smoked bananas, who'd have thought?!

Any idea how long there is between the crates being packed and them arriving in the shop? Just thinking about how long such a critter might be able to last without eating (they wouldn't eat the bananas, right?)

[Sprouts]

I had a spell of picking bananas on the kibbutz and many a time I'd disturb a nest o'rats or mice sheltering cause the bunches are covered with a placky bag while they're on the tree. Shat meself first time.

[zcacogp]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Are you serious?

My first reaction is to utterly disbelieve this, but BR posting ... and he's not that type, IYSWIM.


Oli.