More grocery store interractions...

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Me at the grocery store...I bring my own shopping bag. Inside my shopping bag are the two glass gallon jugs I carry water in. Every time I go through the shopping line i find I must repeat myself over and over again that I have my own bag. First I tell the cashier...usually twice, because even if I tell them once they still put my stuff in a plastic bag....

I can be a little bitchy about it, but I find it exasperating...one time I found myself repeating it over and over...because she chunked my stuff into plastic after I told her at least twice.

I have my own bag.......I have my own bag......I have my own bag i have my own bag I have my own bag......Cashier is visibly annoyed....fumbles with my stuff.....drops my change...

And then, because I have my own bag, they hand the stuff directly to me. and I have to pull the glass jugs out of my bag quickly to catch the items before they again attempt to put them in plastic..

Today I was going through this maneuver when the guy behind me in line offered to hold something for me....and i found this to be very irritating and bluntly told him no and scurried off....

I am sure I came off as rude... ....just as I come off as rude the the cashiers because I never smile or make eye contact and the only thing i ever say to them is "I have my own bag"

Am not sure how to improve these interractions....

Well... they usually say "Hi" or "How are you?" or "Did you find everything you need?" I usually try to respond to those questions and then say "How are you?" if they've asked that of me.

Maybe you could try putting your bag on the belt and telling the cashier to use it? Most of the ones here ask if I've my own bag or not.

You need to put your bags on the belt first ahead of the groceries so that the bag arrives at the bagger before the items do.

I will try that...but I generally hold onto my bag until the last minute because it has my glass jugs in it.

I don't understand the need to take 2 gallons of water in glass for a shopping trip.

Their job is to scan stuff and to put it in bags. If you're keeping your own bag on you, their only option is to use the plastic ones

I'm not too sure where you expect them to put your shopping. You want them to scan it and leave it for you to pack yourself? =/

I refill the jugs every day at the water machine.
The tap water in my neighborhood tastes really bad.
I do it after I do my shopping so I don't have to lug full jugs around the store.
I use glass jugs because water tastes better without the plastic taste, and also a while back there was lots of stuff in the news about how bad it was to drink out of plastic....That stuff managed to sorta stick...
Also, I usually walk to the grocery store. It is just a couple of blocks away...I don't drive.
Even though the store is close, I would rather not make multiple trips.



But I tell them I have my own bag...yes I want them to leave it so I can pack it myself....They are supposedly all about reusable shopping bags. They have big huge displays of the ones they sell in the store.

Sounds like you need a second bag for the bottles, bad tap water is a bad thing.

Do they mind people filling up there? do other people do it?

Filling up my own bags? or filling up the bottles?

They have 25 cent water machines right outside...lots of people use them. Some grocery stores are a little better set up to let people bag their own stuff than this one is...maybe.
Not too many people use the reusable bags even though they have piles and piles of them for sale..

I guess I didn't know that the protocol was to hand the cashier my bag. I like to bag my own stuff in general when I can.

In addition to saying you have your own bag, you should also say you wish to pack your items yourself. They will be more then happy to compensate (as a general rule they need to complete customer requests anyway, and this one means less work for them!).

What other people have said about resuable bags is the 'correct' way to use them. You put them before your shopping and the cashier will grab them and load them up first.

Sorry if this sounds a little harsh or something, but the way you are currently doing it:
-They can see you have a bag, but you're not giving it to them for them to pack it.
-They can see that they will need to pack the items some way, as you are buying more than 1 or 2 (I assume)
-Their only other option is to pack using the plastic bags as they can't use your one
-They can see you are unhappy with using the plastic bags
-They cannot determine what you wish them to do instead as you are not communicating with them asides from pointing out the bag you are refusing to give over for them to use
-As it is in their interest to get people through the check outs as quick as possible (there'll be programs checking how fast they're scanning items => how much they're slacking off), and you are not clarifying what you wish them to do differently, they will continue packing in the normal way instead of trying for a minute to work out just what on earth you want.

If you tell them at the start you want to pack them yourself, any confusion is immediately gone

I dont like going to the store, its a as-fast-as-possible-
run-in-and-out operation to avoid the people there.
I understand your problem, but do you have to have
your own bag when you go to the store? It it were me,
i would just let them pack it and use my bag elsewere
to avoid the hassel. If i were to bring a bag when i
went shopping, it would create alot of extra hassel
for me. Just my thought on it anyway, but i have never
brought my own bag to the store, i dont like to have to
say "i have a bag with me" to avoid misunderstandings
when i come to pay, i dont like to carry anything with me
into a store. I`m very happy with just getting it packed
and be on my way asap, the less hassel the better.

""And then, because I have my own bag, they hand the stuff directly to me. and I have to pull the glass jugs out of my bag quickly to catch the items before they again attempt to put them in plastic..""

^
But this makes no sense, if you have your own bag and insist
on using it, you could at least have it ready to avoid making a
line behind you with people waiting. If i were sitting in the cash-
register and someone did that, i would get soo pissed at them,
it just makes unnecesary work and wastes other peoples time.
You have a bag and like to use it, no problem. But if it makes
problems for other people and spills time, then i see a problem.

It does not take that much time and people do time consuming things in the grocery line all the time, like wave around wads of coupons or run to get forgotten items or ask for cigarettes. The thing I do is only a slight disruption in the routine. There is a movement to use less plastic bags, so i think they would be at least somewhat prepared for more people to have their own bags.

The protocol for using the bags is/was never properly explained...so surely I an not the only one who doesn't know it....

As a cashier, we have to move people quickly through the lines. If the line goes too slowly, customers become frustrated and occasionally some will get fed up and even leave their unpaid groceries in the cart or conveyor belt and not buy anything.

And I don't mind if people pack their own bags (actually I wish more people did this), it makes everything go a lot faster because I don't have to scan, pause, place item in bag, and keep doing so over and over again. I can just scan, and the customer decides where they want their stuff. It makes less work for me, at any rate.

Some of these interactions have obviously been difficult - but you're the customer. I guess the cashiers feel they can afford to be a bit off-hand as the store is a big chain (I'm guessing).

i would go and make the trip for water late at night before the sun comes up. or i would just made a second trip to the grocery store for the water. that seems like alot of stuff to carry at once. i agree with the Glass > Plastic for drinking containers. i have to use plastic though, i'm clumsy and i know i'd end of breaking them.

Why would you bring your own bags?