My friend is a JAG in the AF. He came in as a 1Lt almost straight out of school and he put on Cpt 6 months later.
That is exactly how it works on the Active Duty Army side of things. I, however, being a Reserve Soldier, had to suffer the slings and arrows of being a 1LT for 3+ years, before I got to put on Captain’s bars.
I agree with you guys. I’ll pay the extra dollar per bottle of orange juice that I’d save at the commissary to avoid that whole tipping ordeal - sometimes I have no cash in my wallet, or no small bills. Add the surcharge and the tip . . . might as well shop at the off-base grocer and support the local economy.
I was once a comissary bagger. RAF Mildenhall…the little mini-comissary next to Four Seasons.
If I was only bagging one item, I never expected to get a tip. When dragging 20 bags of groceries to a vehicle, $2 or $3 is appreciated.
I grew up in the UK. At the Tesco’s, you had to bring your own bag for your groceries, or hunt around in the back for an old box to use. I remember being shocked when I found that they bagged for free in the States:)
I can understand the not wanting to HAVE to tip someone though. I was just in Las Vegas and got very peeved at the service constantly rendered which required copious tipping.
Cheap bastard. 
I would assume most of these baggers are trying to either a) supplement their crappy military retirement check, b) supplement their spouse’s crappy military income, c) supplement their own crappy military pay, or d) are part of an extended family trying to become less of a financial burden.
I suppose you would rather they were adding to the welfare problem in this country by not working at all?
I use the commissary as a retirement benefit and am only too happy to tip these folks, considering the substantial savings I realize by shopping there. Were they working for a wage, it might be a different story, but they’re not. They didn’t create the system, they’re just working in it. If you don’t want to tip, then don’t. I would suspect that if the commissary paid these folks minimum wage to do the job, you would be bagging and carrying your own groceries, able or not.
Safeway provides bagger service and they are prohibited from accepting tips (at least locally). Fine with me either way. It’s how the service economy works in this country, for better or for worse.
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FairyChatMa’am, I took a trip to the Pentagon as an O-1. I was the briefing assistant (read: the analyst who had written the paper on which the briefing was based) to my GS-14 cubemate (who had done a fair share of the analysis, as well). She was walking with the colonel we were briefing, and I was walking behind to keep us two abreast. I had a lieutenant colonel coming the other direction and stop me thusly:
“Lieutenant, what are you doing here?”
“Ma’am, I intend to brief Colonel WHOM on subject WHICH.”
“Who do you belong to?”
“Ma’am, I work for the PLACE, at THAT BASE; I’m here with Ms. CUBEMATE–” points ahead to comrades, who are disappearing into the crowd
“And what is it that you do?”
“Ma’am, I’m a SOMETHING-OR-OTHER analyst; I’m here with the figures to back up Ms. CUBEMATE’s briefing.”
“Wow! That must be nice for her. I’ve got to get myself a lieutenant! Carry on.”
[/hijack]
Why the fuck should I supplement their pay? I get the same military pay they do. If they want to supplement their pay then go off base and get a real job that is paid for by the company that benefits from their serivice. The bagger tipping system at the commisary is borderline panhandling. Like the guy above use said, he expected 2-3 bucks a shot. Thats ALOT of money for a few minutes work.
Sorry. Until I’m rich and living in the lap of luxury (or at least not paycheck to paycheck as most military guys do) I’m not going to feel great about giving money away to a stranger for doing something I would RATHER do myself, as would most of the people I know.
Hold on a minute here! Are we just talking about bagging or are we talking about bagging and dragging it out across the parking lot to the far row where the active duty people have to park because of all the retirees are on post buying a months worth of cigarettes and Class Six supplies and have taken the close in parking places. My experience back when the Normandy Invasion was a fresh memory for senior personnel was that the bag boy actually humped the stuff out to the car and you tipped him a quarter a bag but not more that a buck. Have things changed? Does the guy just put it in the bag and leave you, or maybe your eight month pregnant spouse with two year old in tow, to schlep the whole works out to the car? If a tip for just putting the stuff in the bag, screw that! If a tip for putting it in the bag and then carrying it out to the car (in all sorts of weather) then, hell yes he gets a tip.
I think you’re missing the point of my gripe here, though I think we are thinking along the same lines.
Yes, they will bag my groceries and then wheel them, not carry them (big diff), to my car. Then they will load them in.
Super.
The problem is that they are not paid by the commisary and you are EXPECTED to support them. I DO NOT need them to bring my groceries out to the car. I am MORE than capable of doing that. As was pointed out further up in the thread it is VERY tough to get out the door with your groceries without a bagger in tow. They will give you every reason in the book why you NEED them to wheel your stuff to the car.
I’m not going to avoid going to the commisary over this because they do tend to have somewhat lower prices especially if you buy whats on sale, but this bagger system does make me (and many others I know) feel uncomfortably pressured into tipping these people for doing stuff that I’m more than willing to do myself.
Shit, alot of these people are 60+ fucking years old! On more than one occasion when shopping off base I have helped old people load there stuff in their cars I wouldn’t want THEM to load MINE?!?
So your answer to someone who probably has limited education or limited English skills or limited work experience is…what, again? “Go find a high-paying job in the computer industry”? “Move to where the rich people are”? How very patronizing of you.
As I said, nobody is asking you to supplement squat. Tip or don’t, it’s your choice. What’s he going to do, piss in your orange juice?