Soggy salad, anyone?

I never will understand why grocery stores feel the need to spray down their produce section to the point where lettuce leaves become unrecognizable and cucumbers turn to mush. I don't really get the whole produce mist rationale to begin with -- is it a question of cleaning or freshening or what? Farm stands don't do this, which makes me suspect that either (1) misting is actually bad for the vegetables, but is some weird grocery store holdover from another era when people also thought smoking was good for you, or (2) the distance that conventional grocery store vegetables travel, and the length of time they sit on the store shelves, renders them vulnerable and in need of moisture (which would actually be good for them if perhaps more lightly dispensed than is the case at most Ralphs or Gristedes stores). The former would be disappointing and the latter, well, gross, given that the idea of vegetables to begin with is that they're supposed to be fresh!

In any event, it really annoys me when all I want is a nice crisp head of green leaf lettuce, and over-misting has resulted in a pile of slimy leaves that I could never serve to a human being. Or pet rabbit, even.