Ways to Annoy your Grocery Clerk #13 – Loading Groceries into the Cart

by PkWynn on January 8, 2010

Back in the day, grocery checkstands were made so the checker can easily load the customers bags of groceries into the shopping cart. The customer would push the cart behind the checker so after they’re done bagging, they can turn around and put the bags into the cart. Nowadays, with stores trying to save time and improve efficiency; the checkstands are made to encourage the shoppers to load the bags themselves. Customers would push the cart ahead of them after they load their groceries to scan. When the checker is done bagging, they would slide the bags down for the customers to load it into their cart while the checker finishes up the order.

However, many customers do not catch on. Some would just stand and wait for the checker to load the cart for them. Although it may be part of the job, we would have to go around the checkstand, load the cart and then finish the order.

I had a couple in their mid 30′s come through with a motherload of groceries the other night. My courtesy clerk had just gone on break… of course. So after I was done ringing up their order and had everything bagged at the end of the checkstand, I was hoping maybe the husband would load the bags of groceries into the cart for me while I finish up their order. They had coupons, rain checks and even wrote a check. Scanning the coupons I look over the husband and he’s just standing there. Made sure the item matched the rain checks, he was still standing there. Put the check into the validate machine, they both were just standing there. I handed her the receipt and thanked her. The couple looked dumbfounded. “Oh please let me load the cart for you!” I said to myself. I grabbed each bag and proceeded to walk around my checkstand. Not only did I walk around the checkstand to their cart but I had to walk around the husband because he wouldn’t move. Seeing that their was about 8 more bags on the table, its pretty obvious that we need to get another cart. There’s three of us so theirs a 66% chance that I won’t have to go get one! But of course the odds are against me. I run to grab another cart, loaded their groceries and because I did all the work, I assumed maybe they have some sort of disability. So I asked them if they needed some help out with their groceries…

Double Trouble: No, there’s two of us.

Me: …

Tagged as: loading groceries

  • http://ninekindsofcrazy.wordpress.com/ Sharon

    I guess things are different where you are. All of the grocery stores here put the bags in your cart (except walmart)

  • http://poyndexter.blogspot.com Diane

    Paul – There is something waiting for you over at my blog… diane

  • http://www.abetterbagofgroceries.com/ Melissa

    Sounds like this couple in their 30s was living in the Dark Ages. Who writes a check for groceries these days?

    PS – I’m so sorry I marked your comment as Spam!

  • http://kallaydoscope.com Kallay

    I’m with Melissa… Who has a *checkbook* these days?

    You know, I always end up grocery shopping during prime time, which is to say, well, nothing because I shop at different times all the time but it’s always busy. Which leads me to conclude that either a) this store is always busy or b) my life is The Truman Show and people flock to the store to watch me shop.

    All that to say: I usually try and bag my own groceries because I’m anal and then I also always put them in the cart myself because again, I’m anal. People like these baffle me. I’m not saying your bagging skills are anything less than superb, because I’m sure that they are, but I have a certain way and it involves a certain order with which I put my groceries away. (told you I’m anal) But why *wouldn’t* you want to make damn certain that your eggs didn’t end up on the bottom of the pile? I don’t get it.

    Eff them.

  • http://www.counterfeithumans.com Keli

    Ah, the lost art of simple courtesy. I usually shop at a small grocery store near my home and always do my own bagging. It’s the type of store where the employees know all the regulars and we fight over bagging and placing in the cart. It’s wonderful!

  • http://thetreeswillclap.wordpress.com Erika

    I fear this will make me sound like a spoiled Orange County kid, but do you folks not have bag boys? You bag the groceries yourself? Fascinating.

    (PS: I love your blog, because its a reminder to me of how amaaazing our society is. :) )

  • http://suzicate.wordpress.com suzicate

    Found you through Diary of a Technophobe. Good, funny stuff…enjoyed!

  • http://www.phoenixism.net Phoenixism

    Most of the large chains here have bagboys (or girls) but during those rush times when they are all tied up and I have no problem loading my own cart. I’m just afraid I’ll drop something on the floor since I’m such a klutz.

    Some of the Mexican markets around here are 100% self-serve which is cool since I can really stuff the bags even though I don’t think that’s smart. There is a science to bagging, isn’t there?

  • http://incognitoagent.blogspot.com secret agent woman

    It seems to vary by grocery store around here, so it’s not always clear what the customer is supposed to do. But I remember the first time I encountered a store that had customers load their own groceries – I was hugely pregnant and the cashier just stood there and looked at me. I had never run into a cashier who didn’t put the bags in the cart so I wasn’t sure what her point was. She finally told me I needed to put the bags in the cart! Which I did with great difficulty given my enormous belly, but not before I said, “You have got to be kidding me!” I don’t mind loading my own groceries now, but I can’t imagine not making allowances for pregnant women.

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    That’s not right! They should acknowledge that someone is pregnant and that she may need help. What kind of store is this!?!?! There are always exceptions and one of them is this. Ugh jerk cashier… give us a bad name.

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    David there is a science to bagging and I have a story for that =).

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    Aww.. thank you for stopping by and hope you come back!

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    Bag boys have a zillion other tasks they have to do and by nighttime we’re pretty much on our own. Aww, thanks Erika… its also startling..

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    Now that’s what I call an ideal customer… If you show me some sort initiative… I’m your grocery buddy for life!

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    LOL, checkbooks are used very often actually. Kallay I think people do go there to watch you shop. People love reality stuff. Hehe, you would make a checker or bagger insecure because that’s just saying they don’t know what they’re doing but a vet like me … go ahead, less work for me =)

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    Its A- O- K Melissa! You’d be suprised.

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    Is it candy?

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    LOL Walmart Sharon! I guess they’re cool… they have greeters.

  • http://minyards7.blogspot.com Alicia

    That is classic! lol

    At the grocery store that I frequent, they have baggers, and sometimes the checker will bag it themselves if there isn’t one there. They don’t always come around to put it in my cart, but at the same time, I do not hesitate to grab the bag myself and put it in my cart either.

    So, what did they say when you asked if they needed help?

  • http://www.stellasroar.com Jill

    I try to take my husband with me grocery shopping…he’s my personal bag boy.

  • http://dhaleb.com Dhale

    I live in Manhattan so I only buy groceries that I can carry home so hopefully I’ll never annoy my checker!

  • http://www.alwaysaffordablehomes.com Salisbury Homes

    I think it’s funny that they make you do it yourself these days at the bigger stores. I still enjoy going to older stores where they do it for you and aren’t run by upper management. That’s the benefit of small town grocery shopping :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rockett-Singh/100002356606147 Rockett Singh

    wow… thats a little more than hilarious lol! I feel bad for ya but its still pretty funny! park city home builders

  • Cleopaddera

    I work at a store where they frown upon us allowing customers to bag their own groceries, but we don’t always have c courtesy clerks. I’ll be checking along when I see someone bagging their groceries and all the sudden I’m running around the counter to bag. Sometimes I can’t get out of my little space because of carts and people in the lane behind me. One more thing, if you come across a cranky or quiet checker in the afternoon or evening, please be aware that there is a chance that they have been checking non-stop for six or more hours. I get scheduled for 7.75 hours and am supposed to get a 15 minute break, but sometimes it doesn’t come until the 7th hour. They provide no refrigerator so we can’t bring any decent food to eat so we must buy something and then have three minutes to eat. Most workers at my store are exhausted. Plus the stands are built for men so all I do all day is reach, reach, reach.

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