Customers who bring their own bags=Bitchy, Pissy and Crabby

[ContraCorriente]

In response to Mongo Skruddgemire...

Marry me.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Ok, now here I was a sucky customer for no good reason other than for my amusement.

In my defense it wasn't directed at the clerk at the register but towards a eco-activist

The woman was sitting at the end of the aisle yelling at anyone who didn't buy her reusable grocery bags. You think that if you were selling something you might want to try a "more flies with honey approach" than the bile she was shouting.

So when the clerk asked me "paper or plastic" I had to say something

<ahem>

"Gee. Kill a tree or choke a sea turtle...Hrm, tough choice. On one hand I'm pissed off at the trees and think they all need to be chopped down for harboring the birds that took a shit on my 'vette after I just finished waxing it, I think I'm nore pissed off at the sea turtle I petted as a kid that bit the living hell out of me. Yeah, I'll choke the sea turtle."

The Damage:
Crazy eco woman turned bright red, looked like she was going to blow the forehead vein that was throbbing, and was making sounds like she either was having a seizure, had swollowed her tongue, or both.

Clerk was biting her lip and turning bright red from trying not to bust out laughing (she let out a few snorts that she couldn't keep in)

The customers in line behind me were a mix of amused "I can't believe you did that" and open laughter. Many high-fives and knuckles ensued.

Me? Well I left feeling like I had done my part in spreading chaos and disorder and was feeling good about it as I went into my 'vette.

Actually it was a chevette, but they didn't need to know that.

M

[Kara]

The grocery store I used to work at gave customers 5 cents off per fabric bag they brought in, or 3 cents off for a plastic/paper bag. And yes, these customers were a pain in the nuts.

Can't vouch for the nuts, but a lot of those customers were quite difficult. We gave 5 cents off for every bag, fabric, paper, or plastic, back in my grocery days. Most customers were civil about it, but there's a couple that come to mind. There was the old lady who had been bringing the same wadded up decaying bags for like 20 years. Every time she had a bunch of canned food, milk, or anything heavier than bread, I just knew the bags were going to shred. Amazingly they never did.

Then there was the old lady (yeah, the 5 cents off customers are always old ladies) who would toss a ridiculous amount of paper and plastic bags at the poor bagger (usually me, until I upgraded to cashier). It didn't matter if all she had bought was a box of Bran Flakes, some Metamucil, and a pack of Depends (oh yeah, those old ladies know how to party), she would insist on a 5 cent credit for all 50 of her bags. Every single time, we had to explain that she only got credit for the bags we used, not every bag she'd been saving since the dawn of creation.

Lastly was the old lady who always thought we were cheating her out of her 5 cents. She'd have to hold up the line to count the number of bags in her cart, count the number of credits on her receipt, and then hash it out with the cashier that she missed one of her bags. Then the cashier would have to count all the bags, the credits, and tell her they were all taken off. Then she'd give him or her a look of distrust and usually head to the customer service counter. You could see the line of customers she was holding up at the register forming a collective mind to will her into a stroke.

[powerboy]

I like those Reusable bags. My mom, used to have one that the grocery store gave out, now she uses it to take her lunch, newspaper, and other things for work in. I am wanting to get one also.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Quite a few people where I work prefer their milk be bagged. Otherwise they complain because o noes, the jugs 'sweat' inside their vehicles.

BYOB people are a funny lot, I've noticed. They can be decent customers, or they can be 'tards that act like the earth will implode the second you lay fingers on an EEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL plastic bag.

[ContraCorriente]

Oh, joy. People that have to put up with the same hell that I do. =P

I won't say -all- the time, because we do have a few customers that bring their own bags and are an absolute pleasure. However...

The Kroger up the street has recently started selling cloth bags for 99 cents. I am so tired of seeing those things. And they say, "Fill it up! I don't want any plastic." And when they pick up the bag you can hear the straps stretch. Hello, nylon shouldn't stretch like that!

The upside of people that bring their own bags is that I figure, hell, if they insist on fitting all their groceries into a couple of small bags, and if their eggs get broken or their bread is smashed, then they shouldn't have been so damn picky to begin with.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

I love these ideas keep them coming. Use fabric bags when necessary to help reduce plastic in the kitchen. Sure, it help the environment and some stores endorse that with their environmentally friendly bags. I don't mind Fabric bags at my till just so long as they are friendly and they don't mind if I start using plastic after their fabric bags are full. People tell me that they need to save a bag like 1/1000 of the environmental consumption used for bags oh how they are recycled adds up I guess by saving one bag.

[RentalRacer]

The grocery store I used to work at gave customers 5 cents off per fabric bag they brought in, or 3 cents off for a plastic/paper bag. And yes, these customers were a pain in the nuts. Especially when they did not give you the bags up front and demanded A. That we repack their groceries and...B. We give them their discount, which of course was usually once they had already paid. And, we had the nutcases who would try to grab bags from the end of the register and give them to me claiming they brought them in and demanding the discount.

The best story was when I was on Express and this SC came through with way way too many items, and did not give me her fabric bag. And she paid with a check in a Cash Only line. 3 strikes. Since it was express, I simply gave her the $$ off and put her plastic bags inside the fabric ones. This, however, failed to make her happy. She started spewing about the enviroment, and how that was the purpose of fabric bags, blah blah blah while dumping everything out of the bags, and repacking it, leaving the plastic bags on the counter.

I waited while she ranted. Then slowly picked up the plastic bags, and threw them away while she watched, and commented on the waste of the bags. I then told her that the point of a 10 Items or less Cash Only register was not for someone with 30+ items who wrote a check.

She did complain, and I did get spoken to, but it was worth it.

[Killer Bees]

Actually, I stopped at the grocery store today and on the pharmacy counter they had a little display of reusable shopping bags, they were black mesh with canvas handles...sturdy, quick-dry... I thought about getting one but there was no price and I wasn't feeling well so I just wanted to get my drugs and go home.

Those bags sound good and sturdy.

The ones we have are made from nylon or polyester or something but they look like a light canvas material. The handles are made from the same thing and stitched on sturdily. They have a plastic insert at the bottom to stop it from bulging out. But you can remove that which I do since it generally gets in the way.

Like another poster here said, I also accumulated a large number of plastic shopping bags which I'm slowly using up as garbage bags.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I also have quite the collection of plastic bags. Mini garbage bags, overnight bags when I can't find my duffel bag, cheap wrap for breakables, and bags crammed full of bags. See what happens when gallons of milk are bagged?

I like them for kitchen garbage (just make sure there's no holes) cuz then the food trash is sitting around for a lot less time than it takes to fill a tall kitchen bag before it goes out to the can in the garage. Not so smelly...plus, no spending money on tall kitchen bags

My mom also made a little trash can out of a sheet of plastic canvas (just rolled it into a cylinder and sewed the edge together with plastic yarn) and we use smaller bags (usually the ones the newspaper comes in) in it; we keep it on the counter next to the sink; really handy for scraping plates or tossing other small kitchen trash, and it's really easy to clean.

[Becks]

I'll put what I can in my bag and if necessary I'll take plastic...the main reason I have the bag is cuz I can't stand the plastic bag accumulation in my house. We use them as garbage bags in the kitchen (we have a frame meant for hanging grocery bags on) and sometimes I'll take them back and put them in the recycling box at the grocery store (the one store I go to has 3 or 4 of them in their vestibule).

I really should get some of those reusable canvas bags. I'll have to remember after one of my shifts.

I also have quite the collection of plastic bags. Mini garbage bags, overnight bags when I can't find my duffel bag, cheap wrap for breakables, and bags crammed full of bags. See what happens when gallons of milk are bagged?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Reusable bags are very popular here. The supermarkets are even making them in different colours now instead of just the boring bright green that they used to come in.

Actually, I stopped at the grocery store today and on the pharmacy counter they had a little display of reusable shopping bags, they were black mesh with canvas handles...sturdy, quick-dry... I thought about getting one but there was no price and I wasn't feeling well so I just wanted to get my drugs and go home.

[Killer Bees]

Reusable bags are very popular here. The supermarkets are even making them in different colours now instead of just the boring bright green that they used to come in.

I have dozens at home and even use them for holding my recyclables until I can be bothered taking them to the outside bin. Because they stand up by themselves, they're even good for storing stuff. I use a few for storing my balls of knitting yarn (of which I have many).

I wash them regularly and let the cashier pack them, if they go to do so. Otherwise I'm happy packing them myself.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'll put what I can in my bag and if necessary I'll take plastic...the main reason I have the bag is cuz I can't stand the plastic bag accumulation in my house. We use them as garbage bags in the kitchen (we have a frame meant for hanging grocery bags on) and sometimes I'll take them back and put them in the recycling box at the grocery store (the one store I go to has 3 or 4 of them in their vestibule).

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

Awesome, just so long as.

#1 they are clean
#2 knows how much you buy can fit in the bags! (God knows how many times I get customers who buy so much that they don't fit in their bags and I have to use plastic)!