I brought those bags for a reason, you know....

[Kogarashi]

So I'm going to be charitable and chalk this up to a brain burp rather than truly sucky. It was still annoying.

Today was grocery day. Bird (my 4-year-old) and I headed to our preferred store and did our shopping, then lined up to check out. When our turn to put groceries on the belt came, I put our bag of reusable bags on the belt first (so the cashier could put our groceries in them; at this store the cashiers don't have baggers so the bagging is on them), and started unloading. Being a former cashier myself, I made sure to group my groceries for easier bagging.

The first annoyance: I'd run out of room for my stuff at the far end of the belt and didn't want to have to shove things forward, but the belt wasn't moving at the moment. The cashier was waiting for the lady in front of me to take care of some payment-related thing, so I quickly asked the cashier if she could move the belt up so I could put more stuff up.

Cashier: "I don't control these belts. They move on their own." And she swipes at the motion sensor...which does nothing. Because the belt is turned off. I can even see that in the position of the control switch. I point this out, she insists they move on their own, and then without saying anything else actually turns the belt on.

But then the customer in front of me left, and it was our turn. The cashier took my bag of bags...and immediately set it next to her printer. And then she scanned the first few items, set the milk jugs on top of the bagging carousel, and put some of the frozen food in the store's plastic bags.



Me: "Could you please use the bags I brought? That one (pointing) is good for the cold stuff."
Cashier: Gives me an odd look, puts my bag of bags on the top of the bagging carousel, but doesn't actually make any move to put anything in them, and continues scanning. Only now she's placing the scanned items around the carousel (but not in any bags), on the security deactivating panel, on the check table, around her printer.... Seriously?

So I just started opening the bags myself and putting things in. She caught on pretty quickly and actually started putting groceries in, but I still had to pull my frozen food from the store's bags to put them in my bags. And the cashier continued to underpack my canvas bags and claim they couldn't hold anymore until I pointed out to her that they could hold twice as much as she put in them. That's why I brought them after all. And in the meantime she's trying to make small talk about how she never sees anyone use the canvas bags and I admit they're awkward on the bagging carousel but I really don't need more plastic bags at home and don't want to just throw them away.

By the end, I think she caught on. And she didn't seem completely clueless as a cashier, just...not thinking straight through the situation? I mean, I know they're a bit awkward, but I brought them for a reason, and that reason wasn't to be left next to the printer while the cashier bagged in plastic. Plus she's the only cashier I've encountered at this location who had absolutely no apparent clue on how to deal with a customer bringing reusable bags.

As it was, she nearly forgot to give me the two items she'd scanned and placed next to the printer anyway before I finally convinced her she could put my goods in the reusable bags.

[Dreamstalker]

I'd say the cashier was running on automatic; the carousels don't give much room for 'other' bags so it can be difficult to pack them as you go (if speed is paramount, cashier probably didn't even think about putting the reusable bags on the bagging platform).

As far as underpacking...we have a 'policy' of no more than five items per bag. Intended for the store paper bags but subject to judgment--I'm not wasting a whole bag on four powerbars and a pint of berries--but I've seen managers complain at associates for 'overpacking' (more than five items in) a reusable bag that we know can hold far more just because policy.

[notalwaysright]

I point this out, she insists they move on their own, and then without saying anything else actually turns the belt on.

This, and some of the other things she said reminds me of a former CW who was both airheaded and... abrupt. Someone would ask her a question and she'd act like it was the strangest thing she'd ever heard. She'd worked there for years and still everything confused her.

I used to try to group things, but nobody seemed to notice. I'd put all the cold items together and they'd end up in separate bags. The other day I bought chips (I do this maybe once a year or not at all) and found them in a bag with one other thing, milk. It was a half-gallon, and standing up, so that when you picked up the bag it tipped over onto the chips. Or when I was buying a whole chicken, and I put it on top of a bag. I wanted it in the heavy duty laminated bag, NOT my canvas bag because I can wipe off the laminated one. The cashier pulled the bag out from under and tossed it with the other bags. So I don't group anything, I just let them bag it, walk away and completely re-bag it.

I feel like it's my fault for the "bags under filled" thing. I don't like carrying heavy bags, and I bring many bags with me, so it baffles me when I have three bags and only one gets filled with like 20 lbs of stuff. Previously people have posted that they prefer one bag, or heavier bags for various reasons, so maybe it's just me? We don't have plastic bags, so it's not like I'm the old lady who wants each item in it's own bag, or insisting on double bagging.

[Kittish]

I use reusable bags, in part because they hold a LOT more than the plastic ones, plus there's the whole what to do with plastic thing. Don't like to throw them away, but they pile up pretty fast. ONE store around here has a bin for recycling plastic, but they only want THEIR store's bags in it. Here's a tip for plastic bags, especially ones with big holes that aren't really useful for anything else: They make pretty good packing material around stuff in boxes.

For the most part, the cashiers at my local stores don't have trouble coping with reusables, but every now and then one wants to severely underpack my bags (I get fairly frequent looks of disbelief when I tell a cashier that yes, I really DO want you to pull all six half gallons of half and half into one bag) (what? I like a little bit of coffee in my cream and sugar), or doesn't quite know how to cope with them on the carousel. That little loop on one side? It's got a purpose. I'll cheerfully pack my own bags if the cashier will hand the stuff to me as it's scanned. I'm pretty quick at it since I know just how I want them packed, so it doesn't slow the cashier down any. The store I vastly prefer to use, however, has self check lanes, which I LOVE, since I can get my bags set up and filled just EXACTLY how I want them without slowing down a line.

[XCashier]

I'd put all the cold items together and they'd end up in separate bags.

That is annoying. Basic common sense would tell you to put all the frozen items in the same bag, so they'd keep each other cold on the car trip home. And I group my items too, but frequently end up with hot, frozen and shelf items in the same bag.

Don't grocery stores properly train their employees to pack anymore?

[MoonCat]

I end up rebagging my stuff anyway because they all apparently think I can carry 75 lbs of groceries in ONE bag. I don't understand why they do this. I put 3 bags on the counter and they use ONE, or they pack most of the stuff in one bag and then put one item in another bag.

I have to walk to the bus stop and from the final bus stop to my house with this stuff, and while I'm pretty used to it, I'm not a body builder with enormous arms (plus my left arm is still a little bit wonky from when I had frozen shoulder).

[Kogarashi]

I still group things because I've had cashiers notice and thank me before. When I do get the once-in-a-blue-moon cashier who obviously has no clue how to bag properly, I will turn into That Person and retrain them as they go. I've had to do that only a few times, thankfully, but the cashier always looks confused when I point out there's more cold stuff for the "cold stuff bag," or that I don't want chemicals with my food or heavy things in with crushables. And I'm standing there thinking, "Look, I've worked for this chain before. I know you've got training videos on how to bag, plus there's basic common sense. Why is this so hard for you?"

I could understand a "no overpacking" policy if I had any reason to believe there was one at this store, but as I said, this was the first cashier I've run into who seemed to have a problem. And her cut-off point for "can't hold any more" was three lightweight boxed goods (like fruit snacks) and a can. Now, it might be because she had put the bag around the corner in front of me and was leaning over awkwardly to fill it, so it was half-crumpled and she couldn't quite make out just how full it actually was, but then that begs the question of why she would make thinks even more awkward for herself.

As I said, though, the overall experience was merely annoying, and she seemed more lost than anything. Hence the brain burps. Not nearly as frustrating as the cashier several months ago who couldn't figure out how the store's own gift cards worked and tried to blame me for the problem.

Don't grocery stores properly train their employees to pack anymore?

Apparently not.

[Kiwi]

The store closest to me double bags every single time. If I bring my own bags they bag in plastic then put them into my bags. I have to make sure I ask them to only bag into my reusable bags and even then it still happens.

Don't get me started on safeway since sobeys purchased them. If it wasn't three blocks from my house I would avoid it like the plague. It used to be so great!

[Dreamstalker]

That is annoying. Basic common sense would tell you to put all the frozen items in the same bag, so they'd keep each other cold on the car trip home.

I pack like items together, but on occasion I'll get an SC who really wants that hot chicken with the ice cream/frozen stuff just because there's room in the bag. Sometimes I'll put packaged with frozen if the customer wants "as few bags as possible" or there's no way around it, but I always ask first.

[wolfie]

WTF? I can guarantee that if you pack things the way that customer wants, they'll be on the phone to complain about the idiot cashier who packed their hot rotisserie chicken in the same bag as their ice cream, so that when they got home the chicken was cold and the ice cream was melted.

[Kit-Ginevra]

This is why here we pack for ourselves(unless you happen to have a scout or something packing for charity),and normally us folks with brains pack separately-frozen,chilled,washing powdery things... and everything else generally with me gets thrown in together-the choolate bars and packet soup and packet jelly don't mind living together.

[MoonCat]

WTF? I can guarantee that if you pack things the way that customer wants, they'll be on the phone to complain about the idiot cashier who packed their hot rotisserie chicken in the same bag as their ice cream, so that when they got home the chicken was cold and the ice cream was melted.

Unless it was Chicken Ripple.

[wolfie]

Would that be the low-budget version of "coq au vin"?

[Kogarashi]

This is why here we pack for ourselves

I honestly wouldn't mind if the stores here were set up for that. I'd much rather my goods go to a convenient counter where I could do my own bagging than have to wonder if I'm going to end up with the Confused Cashier that day. But of course if stores here tried to switch to that system, I can pretty much guarantee you there'd be so many customers up in arms because "how dare they try to make us do the cashier's/bagger's job!"

[notalwaysright]

I honestly wouldn't mind if the stores here were set up for that. I'd much rather my goods go to a convenient counter where I could do my own bagging than have to wonder if I'm going to end up with the Confused Cashier that day.

I wouldn't mind either. There is one store in town that doesn't have baggers. There are two "lanes" that groceries can go down and the cashier flips a little gate if the previous customer isn't done bagging so that the next customer's stuff goes in the other lane. When I was in Japan they had little carousals. In any case it doesn't really take me much time to bag my own stuff, though I do see people laboriously placing each item so slowly that can barely watch them.