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it's not easy being green
Y'know, I kinda expect to have to do some explaining when I ask the clerk at the Safeway please to put my items back in the cart without bagging them. Typically, s/he will look at me with disbelief, but when I say that I have cartons in the car to load my stuff into, s/he'll happily do as I ask. But when I go to the organic market -- the store that sells mesh cotton sacks at the checkout stand as an alternative to using disposable grocery sacks? -- I really don't expect to have to physically restrain the clerk from bagging my items in plastic.
OK, that's hyperbole, there was no physical restraint involved -- but at the store this afternoon, I said, "Don't bother to bag the heavy things, I'll put them in my bag," holding up a fairly capacious messenger bag as I spoke, and she smiled and said sure and proceeded to not only bag, but *double-bag* the milk before I had a chance to stop her.
So as she set up the second bag, I said, "Really, don't bother to bag them, I'll just put them in here," again holding up my bag. And she said, "but this is heavy, let me just put it in a bag before you put it in there." And I said "no, really, I have way too many plastic bags at home as it it, just give it to me like that." And she said "Are you *sure*?" and I said I was, and *finally* she handed me the &*$%@ bottle of apple juice.
I'm not really blaming the cashier -- she was obviously doing her best to provide good customer service, and I was confounding her expectations. But the thing is, it's an *organic market*. The store actually *encourages* its customers to use cloth bags instead of plastic (probably as a ploy to sell the cloth bags, but still). It stands to reason a number of customers would prefer not to have their items bagged in plastic. Is it too much to ask that the store train its cashiers to handle that eventuality?
OK, that's hyperbole, there was no physical restraint involved -- but at the store this afternoon, I said, "Don't bother to bag the heavy things, I'll put them in my bag," holding up a fairly capacious messenger bag as I spoke, and she smiled and said sure and proceeded to not only bag, but *double-bag* the milk before I had a chance to stop her.
So as she set up the second bag, I said, "Really, don't bother to bag them, I'll just put them in here," again holding up my bag. And she said, "but this is heavy, let me just put it in a bag before you put it in there." And I said "no, really, I have way too many plastic bags at home as it it, just give it to me like that." And she said "Are you *sure*?" and I said I was, and *finally* she handed me the &*$%@ bottle of apple juice.
I'm not really blaming the cashier -- she was obviously doing her best to provide good customer service, and I was confounding her expectations. But the thing is, it's an *organic market*. The store actually *encourages* its customers to use cloth bags instead of plastic (probably as a ploy to sell the cloth bags, but still). It stands to reason a number of customers would prefer not to have their items bagged in plastic. Is it too much to ask that the store train its cashiers to handle that eventuality?