On Bag Boys

Hey all! Or should I say: Hello anyone who is actually still reading this thing after I virtually stopped posting on it. I apologize for my pathetic showing in recent weeks. I honestly think of things on almost a daily basis that I want to post about, but then I forget about it later or else I get too busy. Oh, well, whatever. Sorry, that's all.

I do have a story to tell, though, that happened to me earlier this week.

My house runneth over with plastic grocery bags. I don't really mind this; I think they are useful. We as a household actually probably use more than most because we have scoop the cat litter every single night (sometimes in the morning, too, depending how picky our cats are being that particular week) so it's always good to have lots, but I noticed exactly how many we had and I thought that I would try and be environmentally-friendlier and bring my own bags with me when I headed out to Safeway later in the evening. Moreover, these weren't just old plastic bags, these were cotton tote bags that I brought home from Germany. Cotton bags that are basically for the purpose of carrying groceries.

I get to the counter and tell the cashier that I would rather put my groceries in these here cotton bags instead of the normal plastic bags. She calls a bag boy. I tell her it isn't necessary, but she says it's no problem. So the bag boy shows up and she hands him my bags. There are about 3 or 4 bags inside of one bag, making a total of 5 cotton bags. She says quickly that I would like my groceries in cotton bags instead and starts scanning though my purchases. He looks confused, and thinks for a minute; trying to put his finger on what's going on. Finally he opens up a plastic bag and puts my cotton bags inside of it. I stopped him and explained to him what was going on. He still seemed confused, even as I was walking out of the store.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or stand there with my mouth hanging open while shaking my head. I think I kind of ended up doing a mix of both.