Has Some Serious Bag Baggage, Part 2

(I’m cashiering, heavily pregnant, and not ready to put up with much. Over walks an older man with a frozen pot pie and ice cream. I work at a bag-less store, and it costs a nickel for a paper bag, 10¢ for plastic. He stands at the end the belt, looking at the toothpicks.)

Customer: “Can I get this stuff in a bag?”

Me: “Yes, you can. They’re 5¢ for those ones.” *gesturing to the paper stack*

Customer: “I am not paying for a bag. I bought it, and I deserve a bag!”

Me: “I am sorry, but by not offering bags for free, we can keep our prices lower than other stores. If you go to another store, the price of your bag is already added to the price of your groceries, so you’re still paying for it in the end. This way we can sell ice cream for $2.49 instead of $5.29. Would you like to purchase the bag, sir?”

(The man chucks his potpie down on the belt; it skips and hits me. Then he smashes his ice cream down, damaging the product, and storms off.)

Customer: “I’ll go somewhere they won’t charge me for a d*** bag, then!”

(And off he went to drive four miles away and pay more for his ice cream. Meanwhile, after filing an incident report because I had been hit by the potpie, my manager wrote the damaged product off, and we had potpie and ice cream on break that night.)