No Paper Bags makes for SC

[jjc927]

My store ran out of paper bags yesterday afternoon and have not yet gotten more. One customer I had asked me to use paper, and his reaction to me telling him we don't have any was SC worthy.

Me: Sorry but we don't have any paper bags right now.
SC: Oh really? That's rediculous. That's why I don't like coming here.
Me: Well we only get a certain supply a month and we sometimes run out towards the end.
SC: Imagine a store running out of bags. Stupid.
*and this is where he just starts making an ass out of himself for something trivial*
SC: If this store closed I wouldn't miss it. I would just go to [competitor] where they always have paper bags.
SC's wife (who was nice and not like him): Don't say that. He would be out of a job if that happened.
SC: Well what would he care? He could just get a job at [competitor].

Jobs nor paper bags just grow on trees. Thankfully his wife had some class.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

you know, he could buy some canvas bags and reuse them, if the lack of bags he likes is worth him throwing a stink over.

[cybiko123]

But...but...paper bags DO grow on trees!

[Spork4pedro]

But...but...paper bags DO grow on trees!

HAHAHA! I was thinking that SAME thing!

[aurelemsrealm]

Paper or plastic, who cares? It's just a container to carry my stuff. People who are that picky are just stupid. As long as it's strong enough to carry my things, I just don't care.

[earl colby pottinger]

Point

It raises the point that is he does not like the store and would not miss it if the store closed, why is he shopping there anyway?

Why do people complain that doing Y is so much better than doing X, but they still insist in doing X?

[Jester]

Paper or plastic, who cares? It's just a container to carry my stuff.

And therein lies the rub, and why I have a preference.

I prefer plastic, for the very simple reason that the plastic bags have handles. When you are carrying a dozen bags of groceries, and you have to go from a parking lot around a building and up 1.5 flights of stairs, it's far far easier to do so with bags with handles, as it enables you to carry more bags per trip.

That being said, if the grocery store is out of plastic bags and only has paper bags, I am not going to throw a fit. I'll take the paper bags and simply make more trips to get my groceries into my apartment. Why? Because, unlike the customer in the OP, I am not a raging douchebag.

[Mikkel]

I prefer plastic, for the very simple reason that the plastic bags have handles.

Over here, both paper and plastic bags have handles.

I wonder why anyone chooses paper if they have to balance the bags without a handle. Are they cheaper?

[emax4]

After he started whining about the bags I would have piped in with, "well, you must have liked something about this place to shop here now.. ..we appreciate your business!" and smiled the rest of the conversation.

As far as the job comment, I definitely would have spoken up no matter what. Maybe like, "oh, so you wouldn't care if you lost your main source of income? Wow, the nerve of some paper-bag loving people..."

[tollbaby]

Over here, both paper and plastic bags have handles.

I wonder why anyone chooses paper if they have to balance the bags without a handle. Are they cheaper?

No, but they fit better in the trunk of a sub-compact hatchback

[mharbourgirl]

It raises the point that is he does not like the store and would not miss it if the store closed, why is he shopping there anyway?

Why do people complain that doing Y is so much better than doing X, but they still insist in doing X?

Because it's an odd psychological quirk of the human mind: some people are unable to be even a little bit happy if they don't have SOMETHING to complain about. Their wiring is crossed, so that things that annoy them are to be sought out, not avoided, just so they can BE annoyed and complain to everyone within earshot how unhappy they are.

If you were to resolve every single one of their complaints satisfactorily, they'd be even more pissed off than they were to start with and would likely complain that you were too cheerful, or too helpful, or breathing too annoyingly. Hmm, it's rather attention-seeking behaviour, now that I think about it. Childish.

Example: My father-in-law complained for 10 years that the microwave oven didn't heat up his tea fast enough or hot enough. So finally I bought them a brand-new microwave that could boil a cup of water in less than a minute. Did that make Pops happy? Hell no. Now he complains that it gets things too hot. He didn't want a new microwave, or a new anything. He wouldn't be able to whinge about how terrible they were then.

You can't win with people like this, so don't even try.

[Betweenshades]

you know, he could buy some canvas bags and reuse them, if the lack of bags he likes is worth him throwing a stink over.

Exactly! I even started using a variant of these so I can keep a couple in my purse all the time. I actually use them this way! Publix sells them, but I've seen others around. They're great!

There was a time when the Publix bagger put my bag I gave her into a plastic bag with the stuff I had just bought, but that's another thread for another time...

[jjc927]

Yes, paper bags do technically grow on trees I suppose.

As has been said, this was definitely a case of "why are you here and not there if you think there is better than here?" We've been asked to suggest buying canvas bags when a customer using them runs out and I will usually remember to suggest them when some a-hole like this one has a complaint about the bags. When he talked about my job I did tell him that this is my job until I get a full-time job, but I like the suggested responses much better!

[blas]

I prefer plastic bags, to re-use them to take my lunch to work and to use as garbage bags for my smaller garbage cans in my room and bathroom

When I used to drink a lot of soda pop, I'd go to the actual grocery store and get paper bags so I could use them for recycling aluminum cans.

Then I quit recycling when strange people in dilapidated vehicles started coming here and rummaging through our trash and recycling bins.

[Jester]

I don't know if they're cheaper or not. I DO know that most of the grocery stores here (and by here, I mean this town, can't comment on the whole country) have handleless paper bags. I would prefer handled paper bags, as they tend to be bigger and stronger than the typical plastic bag from grocery stores, and thus could hold more, and I would actually take these back to the store and reuse them.

The one problem I see with paper bags is if they get wet from a cold product, like say milk or ice cream or anything that sweats, it could compromise the structural integrity of the bag, which would of course call its reusability into question.