Mealbreaker (n.): a nasty, non-edible surprise found in food while it is being eaten; often lawsuit-provoking, sometimes fabricated, always disgusting.
When you come into the office on the Monday between Christmas and New Year's and eat salad for lunch, you've got to expect your day to be a bit of a bummer. But earlier today, one female Wall Street Journal staffer in New York who did just that had a far bleaker day than she ever could have imagined. Like the second plague that Moses sent the Egyptians, it involved frogs.
The staffer -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- decided to go to Pret A Manger, a UK-based salad and sandwich chain, for lunch, as thousands of others do every day. She went to the location on 47th St and 6th Ave, right around the corner from the Wall Street Journal headquarters, grabbed a Nicoise salad and brought it back to the office. But when she got there, and opened it up, she discovered a truly revolting surprise: a dead frog.
One of her colleagues, Digital Features Editor Kathryn Lurie, was kind enough to post the evidence to Instagram so the entire world could witness the horror:
Lurie also tweeted that the staffer who found the frog in her salad was "was pretty shaken, understandably!"
A Pret A Manger spokesperson sent The Huffington Post this statement on the amphibian Mealbreaker:
At Pret A Manger, we take issues like this very seriously. Our lettuce is sourced from farms that do not use any pesticides on its produce, therefore organic matter does very rarely manage to pass through our production process. We are currently looking into this issue to make every effort that this does not happen again.
Take heart, Anonymous WSJ Staffer (and Pret A Manger) -- this horrifying slideshow of Mealbreakers Past attests to the fact that you are not alone:
Mealbreakers
(h/t Ashley Lutz)