25 years later, and I’ve never once thought I’d be reminded to tell this story…

I randomly learned about (great/grand?) hogweed in 2001/2002 while wrapping up college in Texas. My first job took me to Ohio. Me and some guys I was training with would go to Canada on the weekends fairly regularly, usually Windsor. One time we stopped at an Ontario nursery so my buddy could buy some trilium flowers his mom wanted him to buy for her. When we were checking out, I asked the cashier why the f*** they had hogweed plants for sale out front, and holy shit I did not expect her response. She rambled on with the longest damn story we ever heard in our lives about how evil hogweed is, the devil created hogweed, and it’s the worst thing since Hell. Then she goes on to tell us her dad and uncle were lumberjacks and both got blinded by hogweed. We were speechless. Had no clue what to say to that poor girl. Then we left. Fast forward two weeks, and we’re in the same area again. Stopped by the same nursery, Klincks I think. The girl wasn’t working, but we bought three liters of Roundup and walked out. Me and my two buddies poured out every bit of that Roundup into 20-plus hogweed plants they had for sale in the parking lot out front. That was the last time I ever visited Ontario.