Yolks on You: The Dregs of Getting Egged

By Jane McInnis

While homes and cars are egged in every community from time to time, usually as a random act of snideness, it still feels downright cruel.

Yesterday a San Ramon Patch reader posted about a full-out egging on Thunderbird Drive and Pine Valley Road in San Ramon. With the price of eggs up almost 7 percent from June 2012, the question remains: do people (kids) who egg homes take their ammo from the fridge, or do they go to the grocery store?

“Not that I’m aware ... That’s kind of a red flag,” said Anne Peterson, the store manager at Lucky’s Supermarket on Crow Canyon Place.

Peterson said she can’t recall the store ever having problems with outstanding egg or toilet paper purchases from kids bent on causing trouble.

The store doesn’t have a policy in place, explained the supermarket’s director of public affairs and communications Alicia Rockwell, because the supermarket can’t determine what customer’s purchases are for.

A manager from the Safeway on San Ramon Valley Boulevard said there’s nothing written in stone about minors purchasing eggs, but cashiers use their best knowledge when checking-out customers.

While the police do their part to patrol neighborhoods against annoying and destructive mischief, here’s a few tips about the best way to clean eggs off of your property:

For starters, when washing eggs off of any substance, use warm, not hot, water. According to an article on the website Popular Mechanics, hot water will cook the egg onto the surface, which will make it harder to remove.

House clean-up:

If you find yourself having to hose eggs off your home, don’t blast water directly from the hose to the mess--the egg innards will only splash to the rest of your home. Spray down the area below and around the egg before gently washing the egg off the house. This will make it less likely to stick as it washes off.

You should also use detergent that has high-alkaline detergent to help break down the egg’s fat and protein-rich chemical structure, such as 409 All Purpose Cleaner.

Car wash:

When washing an egg off your car (which you should do immediately as to prevent paint damage), soften the egg splat with warm water and use car-detergent (so as to not compromise the paint job) to gently scrub the stain with a soft towel or cloth.

For an more in-depth and scientific look at how to clean off egg damage, visit this article on Popular Mechanics.