# Four items - FIVE bags?? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 14, 2002, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819 "2002-08-14T10:44:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Go\_alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/41 "2002-08-15T07:52:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cheesesteak \* > \*\*Oh, and God forbid you ask for a … _paper bag_… _shudder_. > \*\* I’ve seen this in American movies, so it must be true. I know you always have a stick of celery and a baguette protruding from the top of the bag. Does this mean that whenever you get a brown paper bag you get free celery and French sticks? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/42 "2002-08-15T12:05:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Go alien \* > \*\* > > I’ve seen this in American movies, so it must be true. I know you always have a stick of celery and a baguette protruding from the top of the bag. Does this mean that whenever you get a brown paper bag you get free celery and French sticks? 😕 \*\* You ladies might want to be careful abour buying celery, according to [this site](http://www.lileks.com/institute/frahm/indexmain.html). And people say _I’m_ weird. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/43 "2002-08-15T12:47:47Z")
Speaking of celery - you know why we have belly buttons? So we have a place for the salt while eating celery in bed. I’ve got to do a major grocery shop this weekend - I expect to end up with a bajillion bags. Seems to me I saw a crafty application - cutting the plastic bags into strips and crocheting them into mats. Perhaps if I get bored enough, I may try that. One can never have too many cheap plastic mats. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/44 "2002-08-15T12:58:49Z")
Sounds like fun, Martha. Can you crochet a waffle iron for me out of three-in-one oil and gauze pads? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/45 "2002-08-15T15:40:36Z")
I found that if I set items I want bagged together (such as the frozen and cold stuff first, then the bread and chips, then meats, etc), I’m more likely to have a cashier who wastes fewer bags. It helps that I worked in a grocery store in high school and have an idea of how to bag. But if I just throw a dozen items down, I can guarantee that I’ll walk out of there with no fewer than four bags, even if all twelve items would’ve fit easily into one bag (and none are chemicals that shouldn’t mix with food). ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/46 "2002-08-15T17:06:41Z")
> [@](#): > > **FairyChatMom:** > I’ve got to do a major grocery shop this weekend **Grocery List For FCM** Geritol BenGay Depends (have coupon buy one get one free) Denture Cream Support Hose Vick’s Vap-O-Rub Blue Hair Rinse Liver Spot Remover Bleach (that lip hair’s gettin mighty thick) Baby Food (hope it ain’t as hard to chew as that last batch I bought) **swampbear** , who is going into hiding now ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/47 "2002-08-15T17:16:16Z")
Are you in texas too? In the grocery store I’m lucky if I get 3 items per plastic bag (no option for paper). Small single items are placed in small bags, then the small bags placed in LARGE bags. So if anyone ever wondered who is useing all of the oil we import to make plastics, and causing like 99.9999999999% of our polution, look to the grocery stores in texas ☹ ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/48 "2002-08-15T17:42:25Z")
My friends like to say “No bag please, save a plastic tree.” at which point the confused stares are born. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/49 "2002-08-15T18:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by swampbear \* > \*\ ***Grocery List For FCM** > > \\*\* You do like to live dangerously, don’t you, boy? Blather on. You are like an annoying little gnat, destined to be squooshed. Your day will come - oh yes it will… \ **CRorex** - nope, I’m live in the nation’s penis. hmmm, so maybe these aren’t bags - they’re grocery condoms!!! One item per bag so nothing touches anything else! Suddenly it’s all clear!!! ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/50 "2002-08-15T18:09:06Z")
FairyChatMom: So THAT’S why the milk tastes all funny. ---
**Author:** ![Gopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopher)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/51 "2002-08-16T02:42:21Z")
Hrm…My family just uses any bags we get from the supermarket for lining trash cans in the house (plastic) or holding newspapers and other paper junk for recycling until trash day comes. I like getting lots of bags. And if there’s ever too much, there’s a recycle bin for plastic at the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/52 "2002-08-16T10:30:02Z")
**Gopher** - we use ours - when the Perfect Child[sup]TM[/sup] scoops poop, they’re handy. I use them when I pack my lunch. They’re good for taking donations to Goodwill or taking a bunch of little things from the garage to the basement. They are decidedly nice to have. But even with all these uses, I still have bags coming out of my ears. Heck, just yesterday, I found 5 in my desk at work!! I had to stop the checker at WalMart from double bagging 3 1-liter bottles of water - I know the bags can handle 6 bottles without breaking. I do recycle the excess - when I remember to take them. Right now, I’ve got 2 bags o’bags - need to make a note to take them this weekend. But if the baggers would just curb their bagging enthusiasm, I wouldn’t be taking nearly as many back. It’s time to dig out my mesh shopping bags again. **CRorex** - no comment… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/53 "2002-08-17T02:10:54Z")
On a similar note, I’d like to know what’s up with the customers that have to have a bag for one tiny item they could easily carry, or something that’s so big you have to carry it like it wasn’t bagged anyway. This lady I rang out the other day was buying this tiny little picture clip (about the size of that embroidery floss someone mentioned), she had a HUGE purse/tote bag thing, and when I asked “Do you need a bag?” she couldn’t have possibly stuck her nose any higher in the air and said “YES!” Uh… okay, crazy lady. I guess she thought I was trying to stiff her out of the fraction of a cent that bag cost the company, which of course was factored into the price of the $2.99 item that she bought. I sell picture frames and unless people have a bunch of small items, they usually take their purchases w/out a bag (I always ask.) Anyway, customers like that are probably why all the bagboys are paranoid. Better safe than getting yelled at, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/54 "2002-08-17T02:17:40Z")
On a similar note, I’d like to know what’s up with the customers that have to have a bag for one tiny item they could easily carry, or something that’s so big you have to carry it like it wasn’t bagged anyway. This lady I rang out the other day was buying this tiny little picture clip (about the size of that embroidery floss someone mentioned), she had a HUGE purse/tote bag thing, and when I asked “Do you need a bag?” she couldn’t have possibly stuck her nose any higher in the air and said “YES!” Uh… okay, crazy lady. I guess she thought I was trying to stiff her out of the fraction of a cent that bag cost the company, which of course was factored into the price of the $2.99 item that she bought. I sell picture frames and unless people have a bunch of small items, they usually take their purchases w/out a bag (I always ask.) Anyway, customers like that are probably why all the bagboys are paranoid. Better safe than getting yelled at, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819/55 "2002-08-17T02:25:11Z")
Whoops, so sorry. :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-items-five-bags/123819.md?page=2)