ABC News recently held a sting operation at the Montague St. Key Food, and no, it wasn’t about who was playing fast and loose with the produce sell-by stickers. (Possibly because that was at another Key Food.) This was regarding a topic that I didn’t know had been on people’s minds: “Who stops grocery clerk abuse?”
It’s part of ABC News’ “What Would You Do?” feature, where actors play hideous people and cameras film the hilarious results. And by “hilarious” I mean awful. In this case, an actor with Down’s Syndrome is a Key Food bag boy victimized by “customers” who berate and demean him within 10 items or less. The object is to see which noble soul will step in to defend the honor of the bag boy.
There were indeed those who rallied on his behalf (and bravo to them), though if I were one of those who stepped in and then found out I was being filmed for some kind of Candid Camera, I think I would open up a can of Reddi-Whip all over that operation. My most hated job was working the checkout of the A&P, where a routine day revolved around obnoxious customers and getting told off by little old ladies. Why do you need actors, ABC News? Just bring a camera and film any old Tuesday.