At Trader Joe's this afternoon, I witnessed a 3-year old boy tagging along after his mother, grabbing items from the display and putting them in his mouth. The items were vacuum packed, and his spittle did not penetrate the cellophane. But he certainly left some remnants on the packages. His mother said, "Henry! Henry! Henry!" and kept shopping. When I registered a (rather mild) protest, she ignored me. In an age of communicable disease, what is a responsible citizen to do? Perhaps I should have taken the items he slobbered on and given them to the manager.

Or dumped them in her cart. But I like this better:
Discreetly moisten hand with water; walk briskly past the woman and flick fingers decisively at the back of her neck while making a loud sneezing sound.

You could have made a gushing remark about the wonderful healthy immune system Henry was developing by sucking on items that had been handled by dozens of people. If she had no consideration for other shoppers, perhaps she might have had some for little Henry.

This is one reason I'm a big fan of the new shopping car/carts that some of the bigger chains use. Some kids outgrow the shopping cart basket earlier than they (or their parents) grow any common sense.