Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Grocery Bagging

I LOVE getting to bag my own groceries! This is primarily due to the fact that about 98.4% of all baggers out there don't seem to know what they're doing.

Disclaimer: This is a rant. Brace yourself.

1. I always bring my own bags. One of the beautiful things about the reusable bags is that you can fit 3-4 times as many items into them. For whatever reason most baggers only fill these bags maybe one-third of the way. This drives me crazy.

2. Despite the fact that I want them to use my bags, I think it's only common sense to wrap meats in plastic before placing them in the fabric bags, in case they leak. I'd say the odds of a bagger offering to do this or automatically doing it is somewhere around 50/50.

3. I place my items on the grocery belt in logical groupings so that like items will be bagged together. For example, I put all of my frozen items together so that they will be bagged together. Likewise refrigerated and pantry items. Yet when I arrive home I will have one bag (2/3 empty) with ice cream, a cucumber, Juicy Juice and toilet paper all mixed in together. The rest of the bags will follow suit in containing a jumbled up mess.

I realize this is an over-controlling impulse, but seriously, there are sensible reasons! Keeping the cold items together keeps them cold; also, the ice cream won't melt while I'm sifting through the rice/ground beef/toothpaste/one bag of frozen vegetables bag looking for it. Not to mention that it takes significantly less time to put the groceries away if they are grouped by location!

In my life I have had maybe half a dozen baggers who have had their acts together, and one of them was a former student of mine whom I taught about grouping groceries on the conveyor belt.

Is it just me? Does anyone else have this issue?



7 comments:

  1. I think this is a FACS teacher thing! I don't bag my own groceries in the store, but I ALWAYS re-arrange them when I get to my car. It just seems like common sense- but it's amazing how many people lack common sense. I also re-arrange the dishwasher (because no one can do it as well as me).

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    1. Yes! If I can't bag my own, I always fix them in the car - if for no other reason than I don't have to carry seven extra bags!

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  2. OMG we are soul sisters! Yes, I always bag my own groceries and I find myself irritated when other people don't because it makes the wait so much longer. Or, equally annoying, when they buy like five things, couldn't they just chuck them in a bag themselves rather than standing there while the checker completes the transaction and then continuing to wait while the checker does the bagging? When I lived in Germany for a year we HAD to bag our own and you had to do it quickly because the personal space in waiting there was different and the person behind you was like RIGHT there. I am a master bagger. I also group stuff together so that it's easy to put stuff away when I get home (especially now that Baby Sneaker helps me put stuff away). I definitely feel your control freakness. I'm the same way!

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    1. I knew I wasn't alone! If only I could get my husband to understand... he tends to get mildly embarrassed when he's with me.

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  3. I tell the cashier that I have items grouped together so they can be bagged together in my recycled bags. Most are really nice about it and I live in a small town so I know which lines to avoid!

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    1. It does make it easier when you know the good ones from the bad ones!

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  4. YES! I do the same thing. #OCDmuch ? I THINK so and I LIKE it that way. :O)

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