# A Good Halloween Story... If only it weren't true!



## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

Hello, my name is Anneke and I suffer from arachnaphobia.

 


Yesterday at work, the overnight bellboy was in the walk-in (bad bell-boy!) and found the nastiest looking spider in our produce. Where it comes from, I can only guess. It wasn't very big but definitely NOT something that would naturally live North of the 44th parallel. It was black with a large abdomen (like a black-widow, just on a smaller scale) and had hairy little legs like a mini-tarantula. It had a bright red cross on its back. 

I freaked. Not proud of it, but there it is. Any arachnide specialists out there who would like to take a stab at what the little bugger is?

Anyone else ever found some exotic wildlife in their produce fridges?


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I hate spiders!


Trying looking up somekind of spider encyclopedia, it must exist somewhere. I'd look it up for you but I just can't deal with ugly hairy spiders tonight.


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## pollyg (Mar 12, 2001)

In Australia we have the deadly red back spider but they just have a slash of red on their backs, not a cross.
I live in the south of Aus. and sometimes when you open a box of bananas or something grown in the tropical north, you get a nasty big hairy tropical visitor.


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## suzanne (May 26, 2001)

When I saw stewarding at school, I found a little *FROG* in a crate of basil. Put it in a plastic container with some leaves, airhole in the top, and hid it in the walkin. Next day I took it out to the park and released it.


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

I can't deal either!!!!!!!!!1

Pollyg, it may have been a slash as you say, now I can't remember.. I turned away very quickly when I saw it !

Deadly, huh? Great.

We're getting the bugger ID'd by the Ministry of something or other. It's sitting in the freezer as we speak.

Seriously, isn't being a cook hazardous enough??


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## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

At one job, my co-worker and I making spring rolls using spring roll wrappers from the Philippines. She was getting the filling ready and I was pulling the frozen sheets apart. Hm... what was this little black speck? I exclaimed, "Ew! A dead bug!" She looked over to "Ew!" along with me just as it regained consciousness and flew out the window. We just stood there, jaws dropped to the ground, in complete shock. 

Maybe it's something in the water over in PI that keeps their bugs freezer resistant for several months?


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## marmalady (Apr 19, 2001)

Where did your produce come from, Anneke? I mean, what country? Banana spiders, which are big and hairy, often come in with food shipments from Central and South America. 

I don't like spiders, either, and I'm terribly allergic to their bites - almost got put in the hospital twice from 'em - But................... remember, they eat mosquitos!!!!! And for that, I'll always be eternally grateful for them!


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Nice story, Suzanne. I love hearing about people who look out for the little critters in the world. I just finished raising an infant squirrel that had fallen out of a tree. It didn't even have teeth, so I had to bottle feed it. When we released it, the little thing came down the tree every morning, drank it's bottle and took off until the next morning Spiders, I have no sympathy for though. Yuck!


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