Finding animal hair in food is a disgusting experience, especially at a social gathering. An internet user asked, “Am I a jerk for throwing away a full dish at a potluck because of dog hair?”. Here’s the full story for your context.
Backstory
The Original Poster, OP (28M) and his friends have potluck parties every so often. One of their rules at this is it has to be store or restaurant bought. They had a food poisoning incident and so they just said no homemade dishes.
Everyone has been cool with it.
What Happened At Their Most Recent Potluck Party?
At their most recent one, a friend invited someone that OP had never met before. She (20’s F) brought her own homemade dish.
“I guess it was communicated that it was a potluck, but not the rule.”, says OP.
The ‘Pukeworthy’ Potato Dish
Whatever, the first time, we left the dish out. She brought mashed potatoes. OP took a serving.
Noticed some dark spots. OP just thought it was pepper. OP felt something weird in his mouth and fished it out. It was animal hair.
OP played around with it and found a few more. OP revolted and threw away the dish. “I didn’t care that it was mostly full and people were in line for food.”, says OP.
The Drama Ahead
OP immediately gets yelled at for throwing it away. OP tells her that the dish has animal hair in it, it’s disgusting. Next, OP asks her if she is trying to make them all sick.
She starts crying, calls OP a jerk and just leaves the party.
What Does OP Say?
“I found out she has 4 dogs, if I knew that I would have never gotten a scoop of potatoes. It was pretty mixed in how I handled it.”
“Am I a jerk?”, asks OP.
Creating A Scene Was Not Required
“You’re the jerk for yelling at her and causing a scene. Also, you’re the jerk because what kinda potluck only allows store-bought dishes?
Where I come from, you show up to a potluck with a store-bought dish, you ain’t getting invited back to no more potlucks, ya hear?
Most people take reasonable precautions with food safety. Just because ONE person ONE time made a mistake is no reason to stop having normal potlucks.”
I Would’ve Thanked You For Your Service
“Not the jerk. You found more than 1 dog hair in a scoop of mash and immediately threw the dish away even though people were queuing for it.
If I’m your friend I’ll be thanking you profusely for saving me from eating dog hair mash. Eww.
I don’t really see what else OP can do. It is disgusting and people might get sick from eating food that is contaminated – it has dog hair in it, what else can be inside?!
Having 4 dogs doesn’t give you the right to feed people your dog’s hair.
I’m still grossed out.”
You Should’ve Handled It Better
“You’re the jerk. You could have removed the dish from the table and taken her aside, shown her the dog hairs and not caused a scene. Yes, it’s revolting but public humiliation isn’t called for in this case.”
You Both Were At Fault
“Everyone’s in the wrong. Multiple animal hairs in a dish are disgusting, and I would have tossed it too. Having 4 dogs doesn’t mean it’s ok for there to be dog hair in food brought for other people. But you were rude about it.”
It’s Disgusting And Vile!
“ANY Hair in food is vile, so you made a good call about throwing it away. Your friend was just annoyed about it because they probably think it’s fine since she lives with 4 dogs and is ‘Just fine’.”
Everyone’s In The Wrong
“Everyone’s in the wrong – her for not cooking in a clean environment and you for how you reacted. The best thing to do would be to have a word with her on the side instead of making it a public display. You completely lost the plot.”
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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.