My philosophy on the ice cream/fruit issue is that eating something healthy negates any possible bad effects of the decadence. Like washing down a bag of White Castle sliders with a Diet Coke.
Does this mean you’ve never had strawberries with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce & whipped cream? Talk about decadence.
I wasn’t able to find it on search, but there was a thread on slang terms for breasts…does that give you any hint on the melon issue?
BTW, I’ve been accused of being many things, “weird” being one of the mildest.
No, Fenris, eggs get their own bag, too. It’s a rule, don’t you know. And rules must be obeyed. (At least it seems so at the grocery stores around here.) Hence the 4 plastic bags.
I used to not mind getting all these bags before my dog died but now I have no use for them and they seem to accumulate at an insane rate.
At the local co-op grocery store here, they actually sell their own canvas tote bags and you get a discount if you bring that in instead of having them bag. Or you can be like me and just throw everything in your backpack and hope it doesn’t get squished by your books.
Unless we’ve been shopping at Harris Teeter (whose paper bags have handles), this is how Angie and I prefer our groceries. Paper bags can hold more than plastic ones but without handles they aren’t easy to manage up three flights of stairs. So, paper-in-plastic means easier for us to get our stuff home plus they make good trash bags after the removal of groceries.
I was in a bookstore a couple of months ago and ended up buying one book and one magazine. In the time it took me to put my wallet back into my pocket the cashier had bagged my purchase. For items like that, I never take a bag and I told her I didn’t need the bag. She takes my stuff out and hands it to me and then proceeds to throw the bag out, thus preventing my Scientific American from tarnishing an issue of Rosie.
When I do get bags, I would get plastic. If they aren’t torn I use them to line the garbage can in my bathroom and gave them to my roommate to use for picking up after her dog when she walked her. However, my roommate also had some weird issue about reusing a bag and would go to a pet store and buy a roll of plastic bags for lord knows how much. I just don’t get it…
I got the “melon” part but it was the “half gallon of ice cream” that threw me?! [sub]whipped cream has to be easier to use, unless this was some euphemism I missed[/sub]
Whipped cream is definitely easier to use, but ice cream has added effects due to its coldness, especialy on a hot day when you don’t have air conditioning. Of course, a half gallon of ice cream is more than you would use at one time. [sub]at least, more than I would use at one time. YMMV[/sub]
Yeah - this threw me too, along with the fact that I just got ONE melon. I admit to being somewhat asymmetrical, but not THAT much…
And whipped cream doesn’t work out as well as one might hope, alas…
It wasn’t entirely an impulse - I’d been in there the day before to get milk - and all I got was milk. But I remember seeing the display and thinking “I should get one of those.” But I didn’t feel like messing with it. Perhaps a delayed impulse purchase??
I refuse to comment on “Pube Licks” but I may never be able to enter that store with a straight face again…
[sub]note to self - track down swampbear and smack him silly for the “old broad” crack[/sub]
I have one of those wire baskets you pull behind you. Of course, I’m on the verge of being one of those old ladies, so that makes sense, but in fact I got mine before I was crippled and walked to a not-so-nearby store for groceries. If you don’t want to buy online, you can find them in Kmart, Walmart and Target. They also fold up flat for storage. I keep one in the car just to haul the groceries from the car to the house on bad days, and they’re great to take on vacations and picnics.
On the bag thing, the thing that kills me is when they insist on tying the clear produce bags before putting them in the plastic bag. I prefer storing veggies in the fridge in these bags, and if they’re tied by the bagger, I have to tear open the bag to get to the goods and the bag is shot. But it’s hard to catch them before the deed is done…
I have one of those wire baskets you pull behind you. Of course, I’m on the verge of being one of those old ladies, so that makes sense, but in fact I got mine before I was crippled and walked to a not-so-nearby store for groceries. If you don’t want to buy online, you can find them in Kmart, Walmart and Target. They also fold up flat for storage. I keep one in the car just to haul the groceries from the car to the house on bad days, and they’re great to take on vacations and picnics.
On the bag thing, the thing that kills me is when they insist on tying the clear produce bags before putting them in the plastic bag. I prefer storing veggies in the fridge in these bags, and if they’re tied by the bagger, I have to tear open the bag to get to the goods and the bag is shot. But it’s hard to catch them before the deed is done…
I worked as a bagger/cashier for six years. Here’s some guesses:
-Store policy stated that said items be placed in separate bags. The bagger was following this policy to the “t”, fearing he’d get in trouble with management.
-Store policy is based on an absurd number of complaints about how items should be bagged. I didn’t have to check FCM’s profile to tell she’s in Florida, as my grandparents used to take me to Publix whenever I’d visit them. (I still own a metal Publix truck/bank, dangit.) Anyway, the number of elderly customers might be demanding minimal weight to their bags, which altered store policy (albeit foolishly).
Seriously. The store I worked at would get loads of elderly customers, particularly by the busload from a local retirement community. Us youngin’s didn’t have a clue how to bag for them, because what was light to us was heavy to them. I once had a lady yell at me because I put a loaf of bread and a bottle of orange juice in a bag for her, which was too heavy.
-The particular bagger had a lot of bad experience with people telling him to bag light, so he’s playing it safe with everyone.
-The particular bagger had a lot of bad experience with people telling him to bag light, so he’s being an asshole to everyone.
The “eggs in two bags” makes sense to me regardless. They’re fragile, and we’d have a lot of broken egg returns. I’d always double bag really fragile items, like if a customer was buying lots of glass jars or plates or whatever.
Ok, I don’t want my bread and my eggs in the same plastic bag, though the same paper bag is ok. Why? Because the eggs go on bottom, the bread on top and when you use the handles to carry the bag, the bread gets all squished.
I learned to watch the folks at the Publix and Kroger stores near me in Atlanta, and I stopped hesitating to rearrange the bagging structure before I left the store.
Now that I’m in a new town, I get to work with Bi-Lo and Kroger employees here, and I’ve noticed that they are actually a little better about not overbagging stuff.
I hate it when they tie the handles of the plastic bags together, dang it. Makes them harder for my chubby hands to carry.
Ah, but as we discussed the other night - ice cream is good for you. It has calcium. Eat your ice cream!
Why can’t it be both?
Do you drive your car into the store? Whoa!
I’ve never had a bagging problem, so I feel out of step with you guys! On the other hand, when I go to Shoppers Food Warehouse, where you have to bag your own, I get Baggers’ Anxiety, trying to bag my stuff quickly and efficiently, knowing I have to get out of the way so the next person can bag their stuff. Oh, the pressure!
I love the times when I go to Wally World to get one (1) skein of DMC embroidery floss and they’d stick it in a regular-sized plastic bag before I could say nay. Yes. I’m sure glad you put that TINY LOOP OF THREAD into a bag so that I wouldn’t drop it. :rolleyes:
I went to the local Pathmark today. They’ve installed these new rotating bag holders, so the cashier can now access 6 different bags at once. Unfortunately, there is no place left to put the items once they are scanned. They have to go directly into a bag. Not an improvement, IMHO.
In the good news department, though, the cashier was willing to put all my items into only one plastic bag. Somehow, my cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, lentils, tuna fish, and ice cream survived the ride home.
I’m confused by the references to paper bags. Do they still use those?
Most “supermarkets” in NYC don’t have baggers. (In quotes because they’re the size of an average 7-11 in the rest of the country.) I used to shop at one that did have baggers, though apparently they were working for tips. Everything was always double-bagged, even my toilet paper. These people really hadn’t gotten the hang of the job. The only explanation I came up with was their instinct told them to put like items together. They would consistently put all the heavy items in one bag and all the light items in the other.
I reuse my bags and feel guilty about throwing them out, but there’s no way I can keep up with the supply coming in. And I hardly buy groceries!
I live about a mile from the nearest grocery store, but you have to go under an interstate overpass on a sidewalk and then cross some really muddy lawn.
I mentioned that I don’t have a car, right?
I don’t do plastic bags full of stuff. The handles cut my poor, typing-abused fingers right off, and that’s sad. So, I bring my GIANT backpack (it’s approximately the size of a U.S. military issue duffel, with drawstring on top, but it’s tan canvas) and bag my own groceries as they check 'em.
Usually ends up with a max of 30-40 pounds of groceries on my back, plus a plastic bag of a loaf or two of bread in one hand, all of which I would tote home merrily while puffing on a cigarette and remembering NOT TO LEAN BACK.
Course, I quit smoking, so I don’t get as many funny looks now. It should start back up when it snows this winter, though…
but now I have no use for them and they seem to accumulate at an insane rate.