This post comes from many years of being thoroughly frustrated by the incompetence at the grocery store. As a young mother, my grandmother worked at a grocery store (and a bank, and took in other people’s laundry to help pay her bills; people did that back then, did what it took to pay their own way). Back then people took pride in their jobs. I remember my mother telling me “anything worth doing is worth doing right.” My grandmother knew how to pack groceries: cans on the bottom, bread on the top. She would never have handed a customer a bag that had a turkey crushing the produce, or eggs precariously balanced and waiting to fall off the top. It isn’t a difficult concept. There is no need for an extensive education, just common sense. If it is crushable like hot dog rolls don’t put it under something heavy like a 24oz can of crushed tomatoes. And believe it or not, you can fit more than three or four things into one bag if you have even a basic understanding of space (the round peg cannot fit into the square hole). For those of you who don’t believe me, here’s how.
If it were a lot to ask or even took a lot of time to do, it might not bother me so much that no one does this anymore, but if you know what you are doing (and I am sure a five minute training session from the host store could teach anyone) it can be done right in as much time as it takes to do incorrectly. It is simply laziness on the part of the packer, and apathy on the part of the store. I just don’t think it is that much to ask that my loaf of bread resemble a rectangle when I get it home instead of the mashed modern art shape I sometimes unpack from the bottom of my canned goods bag.
My solution is often to beat the clerk to the punch and pack it myself. I suppose my mom deserves a shout out for that one since it is she who taught me, when I was a young girl shopping with her, how to pack a grocery bag. Who knew that would turn out to be such a rare skill?
If you find yourself always shopping at the same store, and begin to recognize the same faces of baggers, you could always try a friendly reminder at the beginning of each check-out... "I'd prefer to have cans packed separately from the items that could be easily damaged. Thank you!" If they say something or give you a dirty look for stating the obvious, just say, "Last week you packed my bread under the canned goods and it was destroyed when I got home. I thought you'd prefer if I mention it to you directly instead of calling the store to complain and getting you in trouble."
ReplyDeleteNot only the baggers, but the checkers! I emailed a local grocer because the checker was so obviously unfriendly. No smile. No hello. No thank you. (sour puss!) I explained that I loved shopping at the store and took advantage of the low prices and bright atmosphere, but that rude and unfriendly checker might send me elsewhere next time. The manager called me, apologized- said he would bring that up as priority at the next staff meeting- and they sent me a ten dollar gift card! All I see are smiles now!
ReplyDeleteRae what a great story and you got $10 out of it! We actually have a clerk at a local convenience store who never smiles and she is old enough to know better. We had a contest going to see who could get her to smile first and my husband won simply by mentioning the kids. She never smiled when I mentioned them but I guess women are suckers for dad's who outwardly love their kids.
ReplyDeleteI try to pack my own groceries when I can, but I have to give kudos to the checkers at my store who will always set aside the crushable items, and then pack them themselves. It's a nice system, and works fairly well.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my pet peeves, too. One of my many jobs when I was working my way through college was as a grocery cashier, so I'm an experienced bagger. I almost always choose the U-Scan line at the grocery so that I can bag my own.
ReplyDeleteI have begun to only shop at places with self-serve options because I just can't stand that people whose salaries we pay (as consumers) just don't care to provide a good service. I also try to spend my money at local businesses as the service is usually 100x better.
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