You're missing the point...

[Dreamstalker]

I'm working the rare morning shifts this week, and am generally happy because not only is it slow and I can watch cashiers/help out Dairy Guy, I'm teamed up with a cashier who knows my bagging system (and I know roughly what her scanning speed is). Until this witch...third customer of the day.

A lady comes through our lane with four reusable bags, and says (waving a finger at me like I'm a toddler) "Now I want you to double-bag this [pointing to the meat] in plastic."

OK, that's what I do with all raw meat anyway. I acknowledge this, and think that's the end of it. I get it in one bag, and just as I'm about to drop it into a second bag that's on the rack: "EXCUUUSE ME! You're not listening! I said DOUBLE bags!" Rips the bag out of my hand; it tears and (unnoticed by her) one of the foam trays cracks down the middle. Not my fault, I wasn't about to point it out to her and prolong this. Somehow I'm able to keep it from actually leaving the bag, double it, put the whole package in one of the reusable bags and continue packing.

I'm almost done when she snaps to the cashier (excuse you I'm right here and can hear fine): "She's not doing what I wanted!"

At this point we're both confused.

"I wanted everything in double plastic, then in my bags!" That's NOT what you said. I asked at the beginning if you wanted to use just your bags and you said yes.

OK....you realize that this way, much less can fit in each bag (no way in Hades we can now cram everything into the four bags you have).

SIGH. Unpack everything. Cashier puts up her Closed sign so we can focus on this mess. The SC is huffing and hawing "I have somewhere to be you know!" Finally, we get everything packed to her satisfaction (apparently). Suddenly she's all sweetness, but still talking down to me "Now that wasn't hard, was it?".

Grrr. Why even bring the bags then?

[AtDIelement]

I don't understand why people can talk to employees like this. And gord forbid we respond in anyway, or else we would be the ones at fault...

Grr...

[Slayer]

... ALL the items ... double bagged? Wth?

[thehuckster]

According to your profile, you're from Boston... it's not a long shot that you might have dealt with my "rotten to the core" customer I had to deal with at CVS a long time ago.

[Hawaiian Eskimo]

Wait, she wants everything double bagged, in plastic, then put into her reusable bags?

I thought the point of reusable bags, was, you know, NOT USING PLASTIC BAGS *facepalm*

[Dreamstalker]

Minus the spray tan and figure, the rest of your description fits

I don't think she wanted each individual item in double plastic, but still... I can usually fit quite a bit into those cloth bags and still have them be manageable by almost anyone, but any plastic bagging besides for meat reduces the available space considerably. Items in plastic bags don't Tetris together too well.

I think we wound up giving her the heavy stuff (which we both wanted to put in the cloth bags) in just double plastic. Came to...5 extra bags I think. She tried to bitch to the cool MOD but neither of us got asked about it so I don't think she had a valid complaint.

[Grape The Cat]

She has somewhere to be, huh? Then why the hell did she make bagging the groceries into such a chore for you and the cashier? (God forbid she help out.) I just don't get some people.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Wait, she wants everything double bagged, in plastic, then put into her reusable bags?

I thought the point of reusable bags, was, you know, NOT USING PLASTIC BAGS *facepalm*

For people like that woman, the point of using reusable bags is not to protect the environment, but to make everybody know you care about protecting the environment--i.e. you're into a fashionable cause.

[Dreamstalker]

Yeah, interesting how she didn't 'have somewhere to be' until her every whim wasn't detected and fulfilled...if you have somewhere to be then take what you get and get the hell out of here!

[EricKei]

Even when I remember to bring my reusables, I still want meat/milk/etc in plastic first then I put them into the bags I brought...but that's cuz I don't trust that the packaging from the store won't leak, or sweat, in the case of the milk (year-round 90%ish humidity means that yes, I have had milk jugs 'sweating' even in January) ^_^ Anything else just goes in da bag

Having been a cashierbagger in another life, I am quite good at grocery Tetris, myself

[Seshat]

Reusable bags that get dirty go into the washing machine here. (Heck, reusable bags with no detectable dirt but that have been used a few times go in too.)

But yes, I do appreciate plastic bags for things that can be expected to leak or sweat. Especially meat or milk products: getting those odours out can require resorting to specialist laundry cleaners.

[Food Lady]

If she's gonna be that picky, she should do self-checkout.

[Dreamstalker]

But see, if she does self-checkout there'd be nobody to abuse

Seshat, I hear ya about the odors in cloth bags (I always, always put meat and milk in plastic; sometimes if the cust has loose or fragile produce I'll pop it in plastic just to make sure it doesn't escape/get squished). I've gotten some truly stinky bags; even the woven-plastic ones aren't immune.

(God forbid she help out.)

I love (in the I-want-to-beat-you-to-a-pulp' sense) customers who have an overflowing cart and refuse to push it through until the very very end (when the bagging area/belt is full, the cashier literally can't scan anything else because there's nowhere to place it except on the scanner and I'm stacking bags on the floor).

[BeenThereDoneThat]

That last bit of "sweetness" wasn't sweetness at all...it was pure condescension. What a complete bitch.

I bring my own bags but I am very upfront with the cashiers/baggers telling them (with maybe one or two rare exceptions) that although I'd like the items back in the same bags I put them in originally, they can fit them however they want. Most of them know how to bag stuff quite well. I don't bring my own just so I can piss off the checkout folks

[Dreamstalker]

I've been in some stores that have signs at the beginning of the checkout lines along the lines of "If you have your own bags, please pass them to the cashier before starting your order". We really need those; I can't count how many times I've almost finished bagging (I asked if they had their own bags and was told "no") and then the customer finds their canvas bags buried at the bottom of the cart.

A few cashiers scan so fast I have to start bagging right away just to keep from being buried (I wonder whose IPMs are in danger...).

Yesterday I got a customer who had prepacked everything in her cooler bag, and wanted it repacked exactly (no offense, but the DIY scan guns are for the customers who don't want a bagger touching their items; to reach me it still has to pass over the scanner).

Somehow, without seeing exactly how she had fit everything together I managed to do it.