# Mild pitting: Canadian supermarket chain manages to choose motto that is both dumb and dangerous **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364 "2015-05-19T14:30:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/41 "2015-05-20T15:10:10Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Yup, those stupid immigrants from imaginationland. The ones who don’t exist. > > So these idiotic uncivilized hicks are so backwards they don’t know how to appropriately evaluate packaged meat but also don’t recognize raw meat or that maybe raw meat should be cooked? I call bullshit on that. > > People who have lived without western style supermarkets are more likely to know how to deal safely with raw meat than the rest of us. > > Honestly, if they’re so stupid they’ve somehow managed to reach adulthood without learning to recognize raw meat or cook or shop, they’re not going to be a caretaker in the first place. When I managed an apartment complex, we had an immigrant family setup a small hamachi-style grill on their kitchen counter. Fortunately, the fire alarms went off before it could cause any smoke damage or carbon monoxide poisoning, but maybe I’ve always thought it was wrong. In your analysis, they just wanted some help learning how to use their stove and figured that setting off some fire alarms would get a faster response from me than calling me on the phone? Because nobody could be “stupid enough” to use a charcoal grill indoors, right? You also didn’t read very much of my actual example did you? You just kid of latched onto immigrant and made your assumptions from there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/42 "2015-05-20T17:01:34Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Humanity has been around for millions of years and we still have plenty of stupid left in the gene pool. Evidence: you. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/43 "2015-05-20T17:07:06Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > The whole sloganeering exercise was to differentiate Soebeys from Loblaws on a service basis instead of price point. “Loblaw” is really a name?! I thought it was made up for Arrested Development. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/44 "2015-05-20T17:21:52Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > The supermarket chain [Sobey’s in Canada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobeys#Ready_to_Serve_initiative) developed a new slogan and mantra in the mid-2000’s: > > “READY TO SERVE” It’s…it’s a cookbook! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/45 "2015-05-20T18:05:48Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > It’s…it’s a cookbook! Post #35 ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/46 "2015-05-20T18:14:21Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > You also didn’t read very much of my actual example did you? You just kid of latched onto immigrant and made your assumptions from there. 🙂 I did see it. It was stupid. Even in this latest example, your immigrant knew to cook food. Just not about smoke detectors. If you seriously think a reasonably intelligent modern person needs to be told that meat needs to be cooked, more fool you. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/47 "2015-05-20T19:31:25Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Sure, this woman is a one-in-a-million case. I guess that’s not such a big deal when all you have are trees and snow 😛 . The whole point of mandatory labeling on packages is not that 99% of the population might eat raw chicken out of the package. It’s so that the 1% who - for whatever reason - actually need that information. (And then, yes, an unfortunate side effect is that the 0.001% of assholes will sue you if you do it wrong.) And if those people are dumb enough to eat completely raw meat, without doing a damned thing to it, they deserve exactly what they get. It’s just a little chlorine in the gene pool. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/48 "2015-05-20T19:56:10Z")
To play devils advocate: Sausage has already been mentioned. Some people might assume that it’s safe to eat or just heat up (without thorough cooking) in a microwave. Suppose I’m not the one in the house who does the shopping, or maybe someone else stopped at Sobeys to pick up something we forgot to get at our regular market. So I’m not really familiar with Sobeys and I get some sausage out of the refrigerator and it says “Ready to Serve”. I can see this happening. Also, and this is a nitpick, the OP says this started in the mid 2000s. Wouldn’t that be around 2050? ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/49 "2015-05-20T21:23:47Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I did see it. It was stupid. > > Even in this latest example, your immigrant knew to cook food. Just not about smoke detectors. > > If you seriously think a reasonably intelligent modern person needs to be told that meat needs to be cooked, more fool you. All righty then. Since that the world has licked that food safety issue while I wasn’t watching, I guess it’s time to move on to world peace. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/50 "2015-05-20T22:32:17Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > But the marketers who came up with this branding are stupid too, first because the possible misinterpretation apparently didn’t occur to them; and second because it would have been so easy, when the branding was being created, to make the motto “Ready to Serve You.” I think that’s less ambiguous, though if I were part of the marketing team in charge, I’d have done a few focus groups to be sure. Then you would just confuse folks like Bernd Brandes. You can’t really lower the bar enough if you’re dedicated to truly stupid proof stuff. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/51 "2015-05-20T22:42:53Z")
Would anyone that didn’t realize that’s a store logo, combined with not truly bothering to understand any food prep, really read that tiny a print anywhere but the directions? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/52 "2015-05-20T22:48:58Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Also, and this is a nitpick, the OP says this started in the mid 2000s. Wouldn’t that be around 2050? I didn’t even notice that, but that’s an interesting observation. I would say that, contextually, since it’s 2015, it’s pretty clear that mid-2000s refers to the decade here, but, yes, usually mid xx00s does typically refer to the middle of the century. It’s one of those ambiguous things you have to work out through context. I’m so used to seeing mid-2000s to refer to the middle of that decade that I didn’t even notice. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/53 "2015-05-21T06:02:27Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Wash. Biol. Surv. …it wuz the worst thing we ever et. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364/54 "2015-05-21T10:30:58Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Humanity has been around for millions of years and we still have plenty of stupid left in the gene pool. [100,000 - 200,000 years](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens#Origin) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-canadian-supermarket-chain-manages-to-choose-motto-that-is-both-dumb-and-dangerous/720364.md?page=2)