Heavy Lies the Bag That Packs Itself

I’m at the register, scanning a moderate-sized order for a middle-aged woman. As I’m finishing the last item, she reaches into her shopping cart and pulls out a large reusable bag that has never once left the cart during this whole process.

Without putting it on the counter, without asking for help, she starts loading every single grocery item into this one bag. I’m talking the whole haul: milk, pasta, the cans, a giant bag of apples.

She finishes packing and stands there for a moment, then she tries to lift the bag.

Customer: “YOU MADE IT TOO HEAVY!”

Me: “…Ma’am, I never touched your bag. You did all the packing.”

Customer: “It shouldn’t be this heavy!”

Me: “Well… you put everything you bought into one bag.”

Customer: “You should’ve stopped me!”