Sorry ‘bout that Demise. I guess you chose the wrong line again. Seems that’s alway happenin’, eh?
And I am sorry Demise that I called you Denise. Still want an answer to my question though. 
Ew. I second the idea that the meat is not packaged properly if it is leaking everywhere. I shop at several different chains and I can’t remember ever having a raw meat package that leaked, certainly not one dripping or slimy. If I found one, I would not purchase it as it would certainly be unsanitary. Are you talking about meat cut there by a butcher, or pre-packaged name brand meat? I usually buy the pre-packaged (like Butterball, for example), and never have a problem. I could understand though, that the person at the meat counter might not vacuum-pack your meat and it might leak, maybe that’s the difference.
A friend of mine was moonlighting as a supermarket cashier for a while. Oh, the stories she told! Like the time when there were no baggers present and it was up to her to bag the groceries. There was this snotty old couple (well, half of it was snotty, anyway), and the line was long, so the wife started bagging some of her own stuff. Nice human touch. But then her husband ordered her to stop, pointing to my friend the cashier and said, “Let her do it. It’s her job. It’s what she gets paid for.” You definitely have to have the right personality for this kind of work. I would kill and maim on a daily basis. People are just unbelievable.:mad:
This reminds me of another incident many years ago. It was in some kind of K-Mart-type store. There was this old biddy in front of me (the line was long) digging for coupon worth no more than a few cents to be applied to some paint she bought. Or maybe she was arguing with the cashier about a very small discount for the paint advertised on the store’s flier. I don’t remember exactly how it went. But she ended up holding up the line for an extremely long time over a very small amount of money. Finally, I had enough. I was right behind her, so I dug in my wallet and gave her a Dollar bill, saying, “Here, I’ll pay for your silly discount. Now let’s get a-steppin’ because people don’t have all day here.” Well, she got pissed and said, “I have the money, I have my pride. It’s not the money, it’s the principle.” And so on and so forth. She turned her fucking bag upside down on the counter, looking for the coupon or flier or whatever to prove that she was due a miniscule discount. Give me a break.
Somehow we all made it out of that store before closing time, and no blood was shed that day, but it was pretty damn close.
It’s kind of like those obnoxious guys who walk up and clean your windshield when you’re at an intersection. Stop That! No one asked you! And when I take my car to the carwash, I don’t care if there are 6 cars in back of me, I’m not doing my own windows!
And Velma, we’re talking about meat cut and packaged behind the meat counter, in the butcher section of the grocery store. I shop in A LOT of grocery stores and you really can’t avoid getting a slimy one pretty much every time you go shopping. Where do you live? I’m in the Chicago area.
Ah, Kalhoun, you’re thinking along my lines. And I’m way ahead of you on this one: Every time the baggers/beggars pounce, I think to myself, “Oh, so this is where all the squeegee men wound up after Giuliani removed them from the streets.”
during uni i worked at the kind of supermarket where the cashier has to bag, it was set up in such a way that customers cant reach the bags even if they wanted to, so non bagging customers dont bother me.
what does bother me are customers who dont give a crap about which order they stick there groceries on the moving belt, then complain about how the shopping is packed.
please people look at what you have done, the belt is 6 foot long and packed 2 foot high with shopping in totally random order, if thats how you put in on the belt then frankly thats how its going to get packed.
there is no room on the checkouts for us to put all the soapy laudry stuff aside until we have enough to fill a bag. so if the cashier is nice you are going to get seperate bags for single items, if they arent, then you are going to get washing powder in with your bread, because thats the way you dumped it on the belt.
its simple logic but its amazing how many people didnt get it. so either place then in the order you want them packed or quit whining that you have to many bags.
You bastard.
Anyhow, if you want to see what price stuff rings up at, do so. I do, and I can still bag things after the cashier finishes ringing me up and before she finishes bagging all of my groceries. It still beats standing there cow-like, chewing my cud.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm…cud…
First I got in the what I thought was the “non testicular-removal” line, but boy howdy was I wrong. Then I got in the “de-worming” line. Hell, it sounded like a good thing. Then I got in the Express line. That was the worst of all.
Ah! Well I guess I am just going to keep chewing my cud then. If they have already started bagging I don’t get in the way. They are the professionals. I just slow things down.
I go to the self-checkout line at Giant Eagle, and I usually try to bag my own stuff. Sometimes, an overzealous employee gets there and starts bagging while I’m scanning. I don’t like that, because they usually put one or two items in each plastic bag and give me ten bags where two would have done the job just fine.
It’s also disappointing when I get to Giant Eagle and the self-checkout lines are closed because there are few customers and they figure nobody would want to use them when there aren’t long lines at the cashier lines. Usually I end up leaving and coming back later, when I can scan my own.
here in socal the three major grocery stores (Vons, Lucky’s, Ralph’s) all have dedicated teams of baggers for that sort of thing, usually high school kids, and i’ve never seen anyone tip them either. they always ask if you need help out to your car, etc. sometimes the cashier AND the bagger will both bag if you have a lot of groceries.
last week on a busy night all the baggers were occupied, so i moved into the little bagging station and started doing it myself. two cashiers and everyone in line behind me gawked visibly. i felt like jesus.
I think about this every Sunday morning. While shopping quite early at Safeway I find there are rarely enough baggers available on the early shift. As such, I bag most of my groceries every week. I think I do a better job of it than the baggers. Obviously because I care about my own groceries. It would, however, be nice to get a “thanks” once in awhile. It’s like I’m expected to do it.
Actually, its the boyfriend that’s lazy. He stands there while I unload the cart full of groceries. He stands and watches the cashier scan and bag the groceries while I am still unloading the cart. Then I reload the cart with all of the bags of bread with canned goods on top, lettuce and tomatoes with potatoes on top, eggs with sodas on top, and other things that were bagged in such a manner that the majority of my groceries are now damaged in some way. He pays. I push everything out to the car, then load the car, then drive home and unload the car, then unload the groceries and put them away.
I would love to bag my own groceries. But it’s hard to do when you’re the only one who knows how to unload the cart or bag or load the cart.
Who has time to bag when you have fourteen cards to swipe and eleventy million pin numbers to remember? If it comes up, I let the baggers do their job, since I assume most everybody there isn’t so pressed for time that they’ll explode into teeny bits if they’re delayed a couple of minutes.
My trick for slimy chicken packages; put a bag over it from one side, then double bag over it from the opposite side. Since I put two trays in the bags back to back, I’m not wasting bags and no chicken oozle everywhere. Just call me Heloise Jr.
Heh. You should be called “BagBagy”. Heh.
Well, I FUCKED that one up. “BagBaby” is what I meant. But then, you knew that.
How did you know I was once BagBaby? They swore that file would be sealed after my last mission. Those bastards!
Mzphildirt & I heading to the checkout w/JUMBO load-O-food stuffs.
Important manager type redirects us to 20 items or less line, because cashier peon is not doing anything.
IMT leaves.
Whilst cashier peon is scanning 3rd item, of possibly 50 or more items, people start bunching up behind us w/ 20 items or less.
Nasty people, all. If looks could kill.
IMT nowhere around to explain that it was her direct order that put us in this line.
Had I been able, I would gladly have helped bag that day.
We’ll never do that again.