Day ninety one: street cheese

I've worked in Downtown Winnipeg for the better part of a decade and just when I think I've seen it all something amazing happens. Today it was the offer to purchase what I have now dubbed: Street Cheese.


I don't need to tell you how delicious and revered cheese is nor do I need to tell that it's not cheap. What I do need to fill you in on, unless you're already in the know, is that cheese theft is at an all time high.


Some guy walked into the New Shop this morning offering to sell us some blocks of cheese for cheap. Being the cheese connoisseur I consider myself to be I immediately recognized the packaging and had come to the conclusion that this guy had stolen some bricks of marble from Safeway. 


Over the years I've had people on the street try to sell me drugs, clothes, bus tickets, booze, etc. but never have I had anyone try to sell me stolen cheese. 


Obviously his generous offer was declined for legal reasons. I don't consider myself a lawyer, per se, but I do watch a lot of crime dramas -- Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Criminal Minds, NYPD Blue, 21 Jump Street, Hawaii 5-0, Matlock, Murder She Wrote, CSI, CSI Miami, 24, Cold Case, Sue Thomas F-B-Eye...  


and purchasing stolen merchandise is against the law and I'm almost positive health inspectors frown on the idea of Street Cheese. 


A friend of mine who is a loss prevention officer at Safeway says that cheese is one of the most sought after items to steal. Cheese and razor blades and I can understand why. Like I said before cheese isn't cheap and razor blades are even more expensive. This is why I don't shave my legs all the time (the cost of razor blades, not cheese). Actually, it's because I'm lazy and it's the winter. 


Street Cheese, it's a living.