Groceries, Rain, Bagging and All Of That Fun Stuff

It's Sunday. I only had to work four hours at the grocery store this morning. Yesterday was a long day. It rained most of the day and I was glad. We really needed the rain. I worked a full 8 hour day. I had to go and get carts in the rain. Normally, I don't mind, it's part of my job. Yesterday, I ended up wearing my work shoes with the holes in the bottom because the cat messed-up my good work shoes. When I left for work, it wasn't raining.  When I was told to get carts, it was raining. This one manager, who's just about the nicest guy you could ever meet, let me borrow his jacket, which is water-proof and the jacket I had brought wasn't. Then I wore a rain poncho provided by the store, so my hair wouldn't get wet. Most of the other courtesy clerks hate those ponchos and say they make them look like a big banana, but I didn't want to spend the day at work with wet, frizzy hair that looked like I was doing interesting things with electricity. I was well-protected from the rain, except for my shoes.  I tried to jump over puddles to keep my feet from getting wet. They still got wet. I got quite a few carts from the parking lot. I'm glad it wasn't pouring rain, it was just coming down at a steady rate. When I came in, my shoes were squishing with every step so that put me in a rather foul mood. Fortunately, I was able to go on break after a short while. While on break, I was able to dry my shoes and socks out a little with paper towels, which made walking around the store the rest of the day a little more pleasant.

Despite the rain, people still did lots and lots of grocery shopping. There was one couple who had two cart-loads of groceries. They were really nice, they even tipped both of us baggers who took care of their groceries. They had to load all of that stuff into their car outside in the rain. We offered to help them but they insisted on doing it themselves. There was another family at another register who requested that their stuff be bagged with paper.  The bagger I was working with and I wondered about that because paper can get gross and squishy in the rain.

We get a few customers who request that their food be put in paper bags. The majority of them don't care whether it's paper or plastic that their purchases be placed in. Some people prefer paper because they are trying to be more eco-friendly, some people like paper because that was what food was bagged with in the past and perhaps want to keep in touch with the good ol' days. Some people are weird about plastic, they don't like the feel of it or something like that. Our store provides paper or plastic for whatever makes the customer happy. Most of the other baggers and I don't like bagging with paper because it is more difficult. The bags are bigger and more awkward. They take up more room in the cart and a large order requires at least two carts. If someone buys a lot of big pizzas, it is actually easier to put those in a paper bag, but that is the exception. It takes longer to bag with paper. Actually, I like it better when customers bring their own bags. Those are easier to fill than the paper bags. My favorite bagging medium is still plastic bags. I know they aren't very eco-friendly, but putting groceries in them is quick and easy.

When people are shown getting groceries on TV shows or in the movies, they are for the most part, shown getting their groceries bagged with paper bags. I never noticed that before I started working at a grocery store. Most stores use plastic bags these days, but have paper available for those who want paper bags. The people producing the show probably didn't want to bother with getting bag racks and plastic bags for the show and figured that nobody would notice. Either that or they feel that paper bags are more artsy, I don't know and don't care.

When bagging food, we have to keep raw meat separate from the other groceries. We have to keep raw chicken separate from the other groceries and the other raw meats because if it leaks, someone could get salmonella. Most customers agree with us on that one, although there are a few that get annoyed if we don't pile the packages of raw meat in with their bread and produce. Most bagging is common sense, as I have said before, it's not rocket science. You don't throw a pineapple on top of light bulbs or a six-pack of beer on top of a loaf of bread. You put all of the cold items together and all of the produce together, making sure that stuff like grapes and tomatoes are on top. It's not brain surgery.

There's even a bagging for Android. It's called 'Bag It.' Various grocery items come down the belt like a carton of eggs, a carton of milk, a bottle of orange juice, a bag of potato chips and stuff like that. They use paper bags. Rather than sorting stuff out and putting all of the eggs, milk and stuff like that together, you take it off the line as it comes along. It's kind of cute. The groceries all have cute little faces on them and their faces get scrunched if they get squished. It's a fun little game.

That's how I spend my weekends right now, putting groceries into bags and getting carts off of the lot. I am happy to have the job. The people I work with are very nice and I get good hours. I was also happy to have a little time off this afternoon.