Apparently, I expect too much. When I buy groceries, I assume they will be bagged in a logical manner, as I myself group foodstuffs when I bag my own at Save A Lot. Apparently, I expect too much.
I bought my Thanksgiving meal groceries at Country Mart on Friday. On the conveyor, I set out the products in groups that I thought would be bagged together. You know, I was doing the checker a favor, putting them in order.
The Checker Dude was training a new employee. Newbie looked like a teenager. He might have been 21 at most. He did not seem like the most absorbent sponge. A couple times, Checker Dude had to remind him to WATCH THIS, and SEE HERE. But all he was really doing was taking the rung-up groceries and putting them in bags.
Newbie must be one of those original thinkers. Not one to grab items as they were shoved his way, and put them in a bag. Nope. He needed to pick and choose. One thing from here, one thing from here... I was NOT HAPPY when I got my cart to T-Hoe, and started putting bags in his rear.
Normally, I'd have a bag or two of cold items that I could put in my soft-side St. Louis Cardinals zip-top cooler, and cover it with my coat. Which would also drape over any overflow cold-stuff bags leaned against that cooler. But no. That was not possible.
NEWBIE HAD PUT A COLD ITEM IN EACH BAG!
It was almost like he saw them as gift bags, and wanted each recipient to get a cold item. Farmer H was home to help me carry them in. Meaning HE carried them in. Except for me carrying a box from Save A Lot and two 6-packs of Diet Mountain Dew from garage to side porch.
I documented this bagging atrocity as I was putting things away:
Kerrygold ain't cheap! I think it was $3.49 a package. I get it for The Pony, because he's persnickety about his butter. There were only three packs left on the shelf, and I took two. They were perfectly pristine (as opposed to imperfectly pristine, heh, heh) when I put them on the conveyor. As you can see, now the corners are dog-eared, from being battered in that bag by 1.75 pounds of Cosmic Brownies, and two jars of olives. Neither of which needed to be kept cold.
I also bought regular salted butter for us peons. And a package of two pre-made pie crusts, in case I make some turkey pot pie with leftovers. But WHY did they need to be in a bag with two Stove Tops Stuffings, and two chocolate cake mixes (both on a 2-fer sale)? Don't say because they're in boxes. The Cosmic Brownies were in a box. They could have gone in here, and the cold Kerrygold and butter and pie crusts together. As I sent them down the conveyor.
You know what else would have fit in the cold bag? SOUR CREAM! Which I guess was relegated to this bag with mayo, cream of chicken soup, and black olives because it was round?
Newbie has a long way to go in his training. I hope it will include bagging, but I have a feeling it won't.
4 comments:
We rarely got baggers when we worked checkout, only at super busy times like Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Then the checkouts got changed and after the scanner there wasn't another section of conveyor belt, so we couldn't have baggers at all. But when we had them, we made sure to tell them to keep all freezer items together and other cold items together. Apart from that we just made sure NOT to pack all heavy items in one bag so it couldn't be lifted. Also things in breakable jars were usually packed around with things in boxes.
River,
They usually don't have baggers. He was training, but there's not room for two people to stand behind the register. So he was at the end, and I guess they wanted him to do SOMETHING for his training pay. Usually the cashier does his own bagging.
Yes, they definitely need to train people not to put all the heavy items in one bag. They like to do that, and then double-bag them. I consider myself lucky these days if they don't put my smashables in with heavy cans and jars. Like bread and bananas.
And eggs. You don't want your eggs under 1kg cans of dog food. Eggs can be placed under a loaf of sliced bread, but not on top because then the bread gets crushed. Bagging can be tricky for those not "in-the-know"
River,
YES! I forgot about eggs. I usually buy them at Save A Lot, where customers bag their own groceries. I always get a box to carry the eggs. I don't trust their fragile bags. I actually enjoy packing my foods in a box, but it's more awkward to carry than looping bags over my arms.
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