Jim Sullivan threatens to go postal the next time a supermarket bagger asks him if he wants his milk in a bag:
... Why is it that milk is the only thing the bagger at the supermarket won't automatically put in a bag? If you buy laundry detergent, it gets put in a bag. A bottle of dishwashing liquid? Into a bag it goes. Every other thing that comes in a bottle or jar finds itself in a bag after checkout. Cream - which is just milk with a college education - gets put in a bag. Hell, if you buy some paper bags, they put the paper bags into a bag. The only thing they don't automatically put into a bag is milk. Why? ...
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chill out dude
By bostnkid
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 9:45am
did you hear about the war in iraq?
Fifteen paragraphs. Sounds
By anon
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 9:56am
Fifteen paragraphs. Sounds like a need to fill blog space. If you don't have any thing to say, don't say it. No one needs your blog entry today.
why link to this tripe?
By pierce
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 10:13am
why link to this tripe?
Because I'm also easily annoyed?
By adamg
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 10:15am
No, don't worry, I don't have to pop blood-pressure pills at the supermarket or anything, but when I saw the post, I thought, yeah, why don't they just put the milk in a bag. And, yeah, my life must be going pretty well if that's what I think about.
Because then they'd have a
By anon
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 10:38am
Because then they'd have a bunch of people like me saying, "No! I don't need a bag for the milk!!" and they'd have to pull it out??? Easier to ask first than to have to lift 8 pounds into the bag, then lift the same 8 pounds out of the bag some significant % of the time. (And it must be a significant % of the time or they wouldn't bother to ask.) - Anne
Baggers are in an impossible
By Whit
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 11:01am
Baggers are in an impossible situation. If they ask if you want a bag they get shit, and if they just stick stuff in a bag automatically they get shit. They cannot win. Think about you position in the food-chain. Where is the bagger? What kind of position are you in that you feel it is justifiable to be a little bitch and scowl and moan at a GROCERY STORE BAGGER! People in this society are so goddamed unaware of themselves that they don't know how to behave with each other and take out their aggression and frustrations on the weak at every opportunity.
Just tell the guy you do or don't want whatever in a bag.
Whit
By Suldog
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 11:20am
I assure you that I do not berate baggers or cashiers. Every person I interact with at the market gets a smile from me, and they give me smiles in return. When I ask that they put my milk in a bag, I say, "Please."
I do believe I said that I refuse to use self-checkouts. This is mainly because the folks at the store know me, I know them, we like each other, and I see no reason for me to hasten their losing their jobs.
Do I really need to keep spelling out that I exaggerate somewhat for comic effect?
(Whether you find the effect comic is up to you. De Gustibus Non Est Disputadum, as my grandfather used to say as he projected porno on the side of our house.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
maybe a grocery bagger reads UHub
By Anonymous
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 10:35am
and will tell us why. now I'm curious... but not annoyed. It's pretty easy to answer "Yes, please put the milk in the bag, too."
Imagine if this worked, "George, please bring the troops home from Iraq. Their presence in the Arab muslin country is causing more problems than it is solving. The WMD were non-existent, Saddam is hanged, Iraq has a government and they've been building an army and security forces for four years. People might begin to think we're there to steal the oil."
That said, what does the post have to do with tote bags?
Totes
By Suldog
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 10:42am
Anonymous:
I mention totes near the end of the post, as an alternative suggested by MY WIFE.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Quit whining...
By stephencaldwell
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 10:31am
And just buy the tote bags.
It's not as though that 99c (the price at Stop & Shop) is going to drain your coffers (at least I hope it doesn't).
Thank You
By Suldog
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 11:05am
Thank you, Adam, for the link. And for the defense. You're a nice guy.
Anon, Pierce, et al - Adam has done you a service. You now know not to visit my blog in the future. I know it was painful to go there this time and discover cow innards. Next time you see my stuff linked, you'll know better.
StephenCaldwell - I'm hardly going to be broken by coughing up 99 cents or whatever. The point was that the markets will actually save money, in the long run, if they give the bags away. In addition, they will be helping to save the environment.
I had hoped that I put enough small bits of humor into the piece to let readers know that I wasn't really going to pop a cap in some bagger's ass if my milk remained bagless. Humor is subjective, of course, so if you didn't read it that way, my bad, I guess.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
milk handles
By amusings
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 12:18pm
Most milk containers in Gallon and Half Gallon format are designed with handles. Makes them easier to carry and you don't need a bag. At the Demoulas Market Basket I shop at in Haverhill, they don't even ASK if you want a bag. They just put a little orange sticker on top to show you paid for it. But if you ask, they'll put it in a bag.
I find fishing around in the trunk for the loopy holes of the millions of bags that i end up coming home with (you know, you go for one thing and spend 1200 bucks by the time you're done...) annoying, so just grabbin' the old handle of the orange juice and milk and whatnot makes life easier.
it's also how i buy my liquor! if it's got a handle, it's comin' home with me. heh.
by the way suldog....
By amusings
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 12:19pm
I do love ya.
But that post really makes you sound like one grumpy old man. I picture Grandpa Simpson shaking his fist at a cloud and glowering.
heh.
In those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them...
By Suldog
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 12:50pm
"... that post really makes you sound like one grumpy old man. I picture Grandpa Simpson shaking his fist at a cloud and glowering."
Well, then, you're one of the ones who got it :-)
That's too self-serving, of course. I really did get pissed, so it wasn't all a joke. But I was aware of my tone, and I hoped that those who didn't agree with the sentiment might at least find it amusing.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Dickety!
By amusings
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 1:49pm
we had to say dickety because the kaiser stole our word for twenty!
sorry. Love me some grandpa simpson.
anyway -- i think that an over the top rant about something sometimes is the funniest thing ever, and freaking out over little wee things and writing like it is a post apocalyptic nightmare is good stuff.
like my commute. i write about that a lot and how i miss the days when i could afford to drive (aka put gas in) my dodge ram 3500 pickup truck so that i could menace the populace.
keep up the surly work... and demand orange stickers on EVERYTHING!
Cardinal rules of bagging
By Blue Apron
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 12:58pm
I bagged and shagged (carriages) at "the bucket" for several of my teenage years. The cardinal rules were:
1. Milk out of the bag
2. Bread in its own bag, set off to the side and put back into the carriage last (so it doesn't get crushed)
3. Chem products in their own bag
From there you would try and keep likes together (such as meats with meats, frozens with frozens, etc.)
It's an art, not a science, but those are the basics.
I dont need no stinking bag
By Matt
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 1:01pm
I never get a bag for my milk or anything else that has its own handle. I learned that from my mother when I was a kid before the enviro movement took hold (Im only in my 20's so it was the 80's.) Detergent, milk, OJ (if in a gallon), and a few other items fit that description. If a large portion of the population didnt prefer their milk outside of a bag the question wouldnt even be asked.
Just be happy they ask, if I were bagging for you everything with a handy handle would be in your cart as is. Seriously do you really need another plastic bag floating around your house?
we have 3 dogs. putting
By amusings
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 1:52pm
we have 3 dogs.
putting extra bags to use is no problem at our house... and... our market basket recycles them, and there is a local cat shelter that is always looking for the plastic bags so there's a bin at our market.
they never end up in the trash where we're concerned... unless... well, you know.
If it is heavy and has a handle ...
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 05/12/2008 - 3:31pm
I don't want it in a bag! Big laundry detergent with handle? No bag. Gallon of "grownup" milk? Bag. Five half gallons of lactose free "kid" milk in cartons? Bag. Megabottle of salsa? No bag. Two liter soda bottle? Bag.
Every hatchback vehicle I have ever owned has had a space aft of the wheel hump that fairly precisely fits a gallon of milk or large size liquid laundry detergent sans bag, a list including the '78 VW Rabbit,'86 VW GTI,'93 Ford Escort Wagon,'00 Caravan and '06 Mazder MPV. Add in the tendency of a gallon of milk to cause bag handle breakage and there simply isn't any point to it. The only way it makes sense for me is if I am carrying it home by hand, or putting it in a pannier and don't want a leak to make it smell like yogurt in perpetuity.