Dumping stuff on my register.

[hotpinkpride]

Lately customers have all been doing something to me that really annoys me. I usually put all the cookies, soft items like marshmallows, and breads in a bag together unless the customers asks for bread separately. A couple customers last week took the bag, dumped it out in an annoyed way, and just didn't say anything to me about re-bagging it correctly. :/ It pisses me off because if they would just ask me nicely it wouldn't be a problem, but I don't even know why they're getting mad with cookies and bread together? The thing that gets me the most is that they aren't even helping me bag (which they don't have to), but when they start putting the items in their cart, they dump the stuff out that isn't bagged correctly.

Anything similar happen to anyone else?

[poofy_puff]

I prefer to bag my own stuff; I even bring my own bags/boxes/baskets. I like to put the heaviest stuff together, the boxed stuff together, the frozen stuff together, the loose produce together, and the light stuff such as bread all together, but each separate from the other group(s). If it seems that I'd be holding up the line, I just put everything back in the push-cart and go off to one side and finish bagging.

This tends to freak the grocery store workers out, but that's just too bad so sad. I paid for that stuff, now it's mine and I will do with it as I see fit.

[Teskeria]

It's probably not that it isn't bagged correctly, but rather that you didn't give them any LEGITIMATE (or semi legit) to bitch about.

[mikoyan29]

Poofy puff, that sounds like how we were taught to bag.

[bainsidhe]

I have customers that will rebag as I'm bagging. They don't say anything and aren't huffy about it, so I pay them no mind. They have their reasons and aren't rude about it. In the OP's case, these customers are visibly annoyed and acting petty. Cashiers aren't psychic. If you want something a certain way, TELL us.

[poofy_puff]

Poofy puff, that sounds like how we were taught to bag.

Around here, it seems that baggers just put things in as they come down the line. They do try to make sure soft things don't get squashed, but say if bread comes down first, followed by canned goods: they'll put the bread in a bag by itself, THEN start ANOTHER bag for the canned goods, and leave the bread by itself alone in its bag. That to me is wasteful.

The other thing I hate is when they put something like the juices or milk that comes in a cardboard carton in a PLASTIC bag, and the corners rip the bag. Then they offer to double-bag it (2 plastic bags). FOR WHAT? So it will rip TWO bags instead of ONE?

Pfeh. No thank you.

Oh one more pet peeve of mine: when they bag something that comes with a handle built into the packaging. I realize some stupid customers want these items bagged. Pfeh to them too.

[Hyndis]

When I was a bagger (horrible job ) I bagged things exactly that way.

If the item had a built in handle on it, no bag. Do you really need a bag for a gallon of milk in the plastic container that has a handle on it? The handle is far more durable than any plastic bag.

But yes, a surprising customers do need a flimsy bag for their gallon of milk.

If a bag is holding just a single item, like a single loaf or bread or a few fruit, and I see more coming down later, I put that bag off to the side. Only when the bag is full did I put it into the cart. Bags with squishy things would also be set on the foldout baby carrier portion of the cart, assuming the customer had no infants with them or that spot was clear. A lot of customers like to put their purse there too.

Durable goods like cans, pasta, and cold/frozen things (also bagged together, and only placed in the cart when the bag is full) would just go into the main cart area.

Unusually large or heavy items that could crush even the durable item, like those cardboard containers of canned soda or beer, would always be put into the cart first, with the bags placed around and on top of those.

[hotpinkpride]

I prefer to bag my own stuff; I even bring my own bags/boxes/baskets. I like to put the heaviest stuff together, the boxed stuff together, the frozen stuff together, the loose produce together, and the light stuff such as bread all together, but each separate from the other group(s). If it seems that I'd be holding up the line, I just put everything back in the push-cart and go off to one side and finish bagging.

This tends to freak the grocery store workers out, but that's just too bad so sad. I paid for that stuff, now it's mine and I will do with it as I see fit.

It is fine if they go off to the side and fix whatever they need to fix, but they are literally taking the bag and flipping it upside down to dump everything out in an annoyed way. I would prefer if they asked to just to bag something separately.

[poofy_puff]

Heh... The last time I went to the grocery store, I had just come from BJ's and I had a box from there. Rather than take a cart or a basket, I just filled up the box and took it to the checkout, emptied it onto the belt (in reverse order of course), and re-placed it all into the box. When it was all done, the cashier said, "Wow, everything you had fit perfectly into that box!" Well, gosh darn it; what a coincidence!

One thing I have noticed though - for some reason, when I bring a cardboard box, as opposed to baskets or canvas bags, I experience very little resistance and strange attitudes. I'm still the same person; they're always a different person. But when I want to bag/basket my own stuff, I invariably get "Are you SURE?" "Are you REALLY sure?" "Are you like, 100% TOTALLY POSITIVE?" And when I have a box, it's like, "Ok, she has a box. She's gonna use the box."

I'm starting to wonder if the brains of grocery store employees around here are running Microsoft Windows.

[Chromatix]

I bag my own stuff. But that's normal over here.

Yesterday I actually went on an unusually big shopping spree (for me). I managed to make almost everyhing fit into three bags (which I'd brought with me). Then I went outside...

...to where my bicycle was waiting, in roughly -3°C weather (with added light snow). The challenge then was to make the three bags fit into the two bike panniers and the rucksack I was wearing. Unfortunately, my previous bike and it's enormous panniers got stolen a couple of years ago, so this actually is a challenge.

But I succeeded - I didn't have anything hanging off my handlebars on the way home. Only a couple of rolls of wrapping paper stuck up out of thr rucksack - and that because they were too long to fit completely inside anything.

And yes, you did read that right. I continue to ride my bike in the snow, with possible ice. It has studded tyres.

[Bloodsoul]

I rarely purchase huge quantities of anything so 9 times out of 10 I'm bagging my own things at the self-checkout.

[Mikkel]

And yes, you did read that right. I continue to ride my bike in the snow, with possible ice. It has studded tyres.

Why not? Finland make the worlds best studded bicycle tyres. I'm sure the Finnish winter have something to do with it.

[Chromatix]

Why not? Finland make the worlds best studded bicycle tyres. I'm sure the Finnish winter have something to do with it.

I know - I use these.

[SourRobot]

Oh one more pet peeve of mine: when they bag something that comes with a handle built into the packaging. I realize some stupid customers want these items bagged. Pfeh to them too.

It happens a lot where I work. I'll ask them before I put the item in a bag, because in the past the customer would get mad at me if I just handed the item and the receipt to them without bagging them first.

[Summerfly413]

When I'm cashiering I usually don't like people bagging their own stuff, only because they tend to accidently pull all the bags off and make a big mess which really bothers me. Otherwise it isn't a big deal.

I had someone dump their bag out and make noises at me AFTER I bagged their clothes because I didn't fold them all pretty and perfectly, during a holiday rush where all the registers had long lines.

A lot of times when I TRY to keep a bag to the side for more stuff I'm going to scan, the person ends up just taking the bag away and putting it the cart, either making me use more bags than I need to, or I ask if they want to put the remaining items in the bag I planned to put them in, and I hand them the items.