"You COULD bag something...!"

[Lace Neil Singer]

It used to annoy me to no end when someone who was perfectly healthy and able-bodied would bring a full cart (or two), and then just stand there and watch me bag the entire order myself, sometimes tapping their foot impatiently. Of course, I'd never say anything, and having the customer help bag is something that should be appreciated, but not expected.

I've had that before; sadly at my supermarket we have to ask every customer "Would you like some help packing?" Notice it says "some help" not "would you like me to pack all your shopping for your lazy arse"? If said customer is eldery, disabled, or has kids, I don't mind in the slightest. It's when a customer is perfectly able bodied and seems to think that I should pack their entire trolley for them that it pisses me off.

That is when I pull my trump card; I ask the customer "Would you like me to get a packer for you?" If they say "yes" then I can sit tight and wait for a packer to arrive; if they say "no" then I'll say "I'll start your packing off then." However, I do tend to pack slowly, due to the fact that I do it properly... ie, frozen with frozen, not forgetting rule number 8, so a lot of the time they'll pitch in and help me once they've done unloading.

[Becks]

I must admit, I hate bagging. Just before Thanksgiving, they made me go up to the front end to bag. Ugh. I suck at it, but not for the reason you think. Either the customers don't group their items, or the cashiers don't care. I can't tell you how many times I had to have seperate piles for the groceries. I had a bag waiting for canned goods, another for chips/bread, a third for meat, another for frozen and a pile of health and beauty aids. Most of the customers were nice about it all (they could see that my name tag did NOT say "Front End" on it), but I also had the occasional asshat who just stood and watched while making faces. You don't like how I'm bagging, do it yourself. It's not MY job.

Ah, well. The Thanksgiving rush is over, and hopefully they'll never make me do that again.

[greensinestro]

Does this often happen to you? If so, maybe there is a reason this customer said this to you, then your dad bitched at you later on. Then again, I know nothing about you.

So, why should customers be expected to bag their own groceries or merchandise? When I worked for Publix back in high school, we were trained and later on paid to do that job. It was not up to the customer to bag their own stuff. I know how I would feel about that. I already went around the store shopping, and the last thing I want to do is bag it myself. It's bad enough I have to put it away when I get home.

[pbmods]

My take on it is that it is your job to bag the customer's groceries. However, it's your job to bag the customer's groceries *properly*. If the customer wants everything bagged a certain way, he's welcome to do it himself. Otherwise, you're gonna bag his groceries in a way that you see as appropriate.

I wonder also if the people that say, "Don't help him; he gets paid to do it," think that they would "lower themselves" to the cashier's level if they tried to help.

Vote YES on proposal 92b, allowing cashiers to stock their register stations with a heavy, blunt object for purposes of "Customer Desuckification"!

[greensinestro]

My take on it is that it is your job to bag the customer's groceries. However, it's your job to bag the customer's groceries *properly*. If the customer wants everything bagged a certain way, he's welcome to do it himself. Otherwise, you're gonna bag his groceries in a way that you see as appropriate.

My take on it exactly. Nowadays, particularly in Florida, baggers are terrible at bagging your groceries correctly. I've had my ice cream bagged with my bread, or my eggs put in with my bananas. Plus, they don't seem to have paper bags anymore, which were much better than the plastic ones.

[Jester]

Okay why is it that customers feel so entitled that they can not bag or even help bag their own items. i mean yes it is our job to assist customers but really why is it such a presumption that they do not and will not assist with bagging their purchases?

I don't bag my own groceries for a very simple reason: I know that 99% of the time, the cashier/bagger can do it quicker and more competently than me. I am not picky. All I ever ask for is double bagging. (Those plastic bags are cheap, and I live in an apartment and can't exactly pull the Jestermobile right up to the front door.)

Would I help if I thought it would expedite things? Yes.
Do I think I am above the person bagging my groceries? No.

Would *I* allow someone behind MY bar just because they didn't think I was pouring their drink correctly? Hell no. Are you kidding me? Rare is the bartender that will let ANYONE back behind their bar, let alone a customer who is going to "show them how to do it right." I am there to work. You are there to drink. Shut up and drink and let me work.