Supermarket Checkout Rage

A few weeks ago I wrote a triumphant post Mulubinba Moments: The Dreaded Plastic Shopping Bag about how I had managed to pack my weekly shop into canvas bags as opposed to using the supplied plastic bags. This letter appeared in today's Newcastle Herald (I have to clarify I wasn't the shopper the writer was describing):-

"THE trend towards reusable grocery bags is a plus for the environment but unless supermarkets introduce a new etiquette for their use there's going to be growing checkout rage.

I have been caught in a queue behind shoppers armed with a full trolley and a dozen or more cloth bags - invariably women who produce their bags at the last possible moment and insist on loading them to their own satisfaction while other customers behind them mutter and roll their eyes.

Lately, from my observations, the queue has become more mutinous and the bag-toting ladies more militant, to the point of antagonistic behaviour on both sides.

Perhaps it's time supermarket chains designated separate checkouts for our environmental saviours, while the rest of us get about our business as efficiently and quickly as possible"
Marie Eggleston, Merewether, October 30

Yes, and I suppose it saves time to dump litter in the streets rather than walk 50m to place it in a rubbish bin....

Comments

[fredf]

Oh I don't know. I've grown to find the beer cans and hamburger wrappers in our road a comforting reassurance that somebody's car or truck is now a more orderly place. Just think. If it wasn't blowing down our road or floating in the creek what a shambles Bucko's rusted truck cab would be! :-}

[Tvindy]

It's not very clear in the letter to the newspaper, but I think the problem being described had more to do with the people who insist on doing the bagging themselves, rather than letting the checkout clerks do it. The fact that these people happen to bring their own cloth bags didn't seem to be the main issue, but I only picked up on that the second time I read it.

[Dan]

I used to live in NYC and escaped to whatever park I could on days off. It never failed to cloud my day when I saw all the plastic bags hanging in the trees where a stiff wind carried them. Ban plastic bags and I'd be happy.

[Tim]

I'm afraid in the backward UK here we nearly always have to pack our own groceries, whether we bring our own bags or not (some supermarkets will pack your stuff if you're in the '5 items or less' queue).
So when you feel your anger start to rise in the checkout queue, just think of us poor backward brits!

[kat l.]

i think people who waste others' time are very rude indeed, whether they're lost in their own universe or doing it purposefully to teach others that "patience is a virtue." i work in a public library where this goes on all the time. it's not an issue of whether people bring their own bags and pack them themselves or not. it's about respect for those around you. if you want to use the supermarket plastic bags, that's your decision. i do each and every time. but i also make sure they are disposed of properly. for those who choose to bring their own bags, load your groceries in a timely manner so those behind you won't be stuck there starring you down and willing you with all their might to BEGONE!
-kat l.

[Faith]

What a rude letter! I wonder if there isn't some underlying guilt and a need to justify the writer's use of plastic bags. She didn't stop to consider that maybe the women were bagging their own groceries to keep from inconveniencing the baggers. I've been considering bagging my own because some baggers seem to think I bring my own bags just to annoy them. I can't help but wonder if the women really were any slower than the average or if the writer perceived them as slower because of prejudice.