Health and safety rules and common sense? The latter is not a universally possessed trait and should come with a warning label stating that it can be detrimental to your wellbeing.

On Saturday morning I visited my local supermarket’s in house coffee shop for a large latte and a hot sausage bap with brown sauce (red or brown sauce is a discussion for another day).

The first thing I noticed was that the fire exit doors were blocked by a shopping trolley rammed full of flattened and discarded cardboard boxes.

Rule number one, unpack the deliveries of new stock before the shop opens.

Rule number two, put all recycling outside in the appropriate bin at the end of the day.

Oh wait… isn’t there a rule about blocking fire exits?….

The second thing that came to my attention was the sign at the counter informing customers that no crockery or cutlery was available due to their dishwasher being out of order and so they had no alternative but to offer only wooden cutlery and cardboard plates.

Rule number three, staff must be trained in proper hand washing techniques and food hygiene practices.

Does that exempt manually washing up equipment in a sink, something we all do at home regardless of the fact we may have our own dishwasher because we don’t have a full load or we prefer to get rid of the excess food and stains first?

My mantra in my work life is “look for the absence of the normal” and it often overflows into my personal life but what is normal for me may not be normal for others and vice versa.

So I walked away from the coffee shop and was stopped by a security guard who informed me that my car was incorrectly parked in the bay as one of the wheels was on the white line on the drivers side, but he was only warning me that I could be fined next time even though the space I picked was partially restricted because the van in the next space was too wide and had encroached onto my space. Rules eh?…