Quote:
Originally Posted by
Granger1814 
Oh good. A volunteer. Esme flashed a smile and nodded in response to the woman's question. "I sure could use someone. Two pairs of hands is better than one." She waggled the fingers of one gloved hand before speaking again. "Sorry I can't shake but the equipment makes it a little difficult. I"m Esme, by the way."
She pulled out a few small Petri-like dishes and a set that included tweezers and a small device that would allow for cutting pieces of food if they were connected to a large piece.
"We'll be using this to collect the samples. Oh, and...." She rummaged in the bag again, pulling out a dropper this time. "Tweezers for food samples and dropper for the drink sample. Collect each and place the individual sample on the dish and make sure the cover is tightly closed. There's some little labels on top that you can write on, to say what type of food or drink that the sample is from, and also if it was frozen or not frozen, or any other characteristics that you think may be important."
Esme paused, looking up with a slightly sheepish look. "Got that? Sorry if I went a little fast."
"
Hello Esme, I'm Melissa," Melissa introduced herself and smiled back in return She was glad that Esme was more than willing to accept her help. She watched as Esme started pulling out Petri dishes and tweezers and droppers and something that looked like it was used for cutting up stuff, while at the same time giving her instructions on what to do with them.
"
Yep. Got that. Dropper to be used for anything liquid. Tweezers for food. Place samples in Petri dish. Make sure that I secure the lid. Write on the label what the sample is and where I got it from and whether they were frozen or not. Did I miss anything out?" Melissa repeated the instructions back to Esme.
"No need to apologize. I have a sixteen year old who talks a whole lot faster than you, so I've had plenty of practice understanding her when she's on a roll." Melissa grinned back at Esme before realizing belatedly that now wasn't the time to be joking around. They all had a job to do.
She quickly took the equipment from Esme, balancing everything with both hands, while trying not to drop them in the process. "
I know that time is of the essence, so I'll start collecting samples now." and was about to walk away when a thought entered her mind and she turned around to ask.
"
Uh...do I only collect samples in this area, or should I collect samples from the entire food court?" she asked Esme