meanings

Dear Teacher:

I am not quite sure about the meanings of the brackted clauses in the following two passages. Would you please do me a favor?

1 [Somebody wears his tail to a frazzle] for every mouthful we eat and
every stitch we wear.

2. In the fruit store, he selected a basket of fruit wrapped in cellophane. The
Greek behind the counter said the price was sixty cents, so that when he
had paid he was left with only a nickel. As soon as he had come out of the
store [the present seemed a funny one to take a healthy man.]

Thanks a bunch.

[Tdol]

Frazzle = get worked up, frantic, so someone has worried and worked for our every mouthful

Fruit is normally a present for the sick, so it seems unusual to give a basket of fruit to someone healthy.