Have Fun Juggling Your Shopping

I used to work at a supermarket, and at 9:00 am on a Saturday, the following went down.

Me: “Good morning! Would you like a bag?”

Customer: *Sarcastically* “No, I’m going to carry all of these by themselves.”

It may have been the underpay, the rude tone, or the fact that I was just so tired of customers being nasty, but I decided to go along with it.

Me: *Beaming* “Okay, sir, no problem!”

I then proceeded to scan all of his shopping and charge him. The man paid and stood there, blankly staring at his groceries for a moment, before looking at me.

Customer: “Where are my bags?”

Me: “Oh, I’m so sorry, sir! I thought you said you were going to carry them?”

Customer: *Angrily* “Well, OBVIOUSLY, I can’t carry all of this without a bag!”

Me: “Oh, okay. Well, in that case…”

I then proceeded to go through the usual “single-use or reusable bag” spiel, and then, wouldn’t you know it? We were out of the bags he wanted, so I had to call a manager over to bring some more bags to me, which always took ages in this supermarket.

The customer then had to dig out his wallet and card to pay a tiny amount for some bags. Then, I handed them to him with a smile and receipt and watched while he bagged his own groceries, scowling the whole time.

Normally, I would scan and bag, but as he didn’t want bags to start with, I didn’t offer and he didn’t ask.

All in all, a five-minute transaction took a good fifteen minutes, and he never pulled that with me again. I have no idea what he thought would happen while he watched me scan everything and pile it up in a very obviously non-bagged heap, but hey, he said no bags!