I am annoying the people I work with lately. To be fair, they annoy me too. And in my defence, I'm not voicing my opinions unless there's a context. For example I recently had the misfortune to come across the carcass of an Asda Smartprice chicken. (I work in mental health care by the way, and we help our service users to prepare meals etc.) This sad specimen had been cooked for four, one of whom wasn't interested in getting out of bed, while the remaing three ate their customary child's portion, leaving well over half the chicken intact. This would probably have been binned a year or so ago, but I like to think people have stopped waste like this at least partly because of my views on it.

I tasted the meat. It had a texture not far removed from plasticene. The taste was not far removed either, I imagine. (I have been an aspiring vegetarian for years, but am more strict of late.) I removed the meat and boiled the carcass for stock. As you may know, chicken stock, when cooled, should be a brown jelly with a layer of yellow fat on top. This smartprice stock was a grey sludge.

Anyway I conveyed this information, as part of the handover, to the next shift, given that it was shopping day. I was concise, saying something like "Don't buy cheap meat, it's shit and most of it gets wasted, buy a smaller better quality bird or joint", and directed this at one person in particular who buys cheap meat. He ended up flicking a v-sign inches from my face, saying "just because you've got a bee in your bonnet about battery hens - "
" - and broiler chickens", I interrupted, so as to annoy him, I admit. I doubt he knows what a broiler chicken is. He stormed out at that point. The people remaining agreed we should not buy cheap meat, but can't afford to go as far as free range.

I don't preach vegetarianism, and only talk about it if people ask. I have attempted to persuade people not to buy Procter and Gamble products, however. Unsuccessfully.

To be fair, the v-sign flicker is an extreme, and I at least appreciate his directness. A more usual response is "oh Bernard man", meaning, I think, "I've heard all this before but its of secondary importance, I'm here to do a specific job." Also, "I know, you're right, I really feel sorry for the £1.99 chicken. But I've got a family to feed."

I will persevere. I won't start about the pet rabbit and guinea pig, I'll save that for later.