What is the politically correct term for

[Susan BAV]

PSYCHO GROCERY BAGGER?!?!

When I ask for the baggers to be careful with my fragile foods it does NOT mean to carefully place the eggs in the bag under something LARGE AND HEAVY for protection, like a gallon of milk!!!

I don't think the baggers should even be allowed to LOOK at my groceries -- let alone HANDLE them -- until they've lived on their own for a year or so and had to buy their own groceries!!!

 

[Rich]

Well Susan I could quote the term, but not on a public forum !

 

[dj/utvolsfan]

Hey,
I worked at the local grocery store this summer as a cashier and many of the baggers who were hired were mentally challenged....high functioning.....yet challenged. I found they were all very receptive to pleasing the customers if the situation was handled correctly. As a special ed teacher, I find gentle teaching as opposed to harsh scolding works best. Worst case scenario inform a manager. All the managers were great about helping the bagger, reteaching, offering fresher items to the customer, etc. On the other hand, sometimes you just get a rotten bagger with everything else on his/her mind but your eggs and bread. Same deal. Inform the manager if you are dissatisfied.
Debbi

 

[RandyL]

Thought I posted this already but here goes agan.

In Florida all the baggers are 70 plus. They would rather shoot the breeze with you than bag. Half the time I end up bagging too just so I can get out of there. Well I guess I know where I'll be able to work when I'm 70.

 

[maka]

Yes, the baggers at my NY supermarket are mentally challenged and the ones in Fl are over 70's, so I thank God that I still can bag my own groceries with my full mental capacities....and keep the eggs on a separate bag. Sometimes we have to take a deep breath and be grateful that our economy is strong enough to provide work to some less fortunate people

 

[JimL]

I spent 2-1/2 years during high school working in a grocery story, mostly as a bagger, but also stocking shelves, doing produce, etc. I'm sure we were all mentally challenged then, back in the early 70s; little has changed since then. At that time, all of the regular baggers cared for the customers and bagged well; but when it got busy, the manager would come out and "help." We soon learned to be especially careful of -- and here's the term we used then -- "Kenny bags," which were normally a single thickness bag with three layers of cans, guaranteed to rip as soon as it was touched. My wife brought home several "Kenny bags" from our local grocery yesterday.

 

[PJmomrunner]

What is the politically correct term for PSYCHO GROCERY BAGGER?!?!

In honor of JimL's experience, I propose "Kenny Bagger".

 

[Ross]

Oh Susan, didn't you know? It's a new age thing. Welcome to the world of the incompetent.

 

[Susan BAV]

I spent 2-1/2 years during high school working in a grocery story, mostly as a bagger, but also stocking shelves, doing produce, etc. I'm sure we were all mentally challenged then, back in the early 70s; little has changed since then...

My older brother worked in a grocery story about that time, Jim; they were called "boxboys" then. Not a politically correct term today, huh?! They would "initiate" the new boxboy in those days by sending him down to the local hardware store on the town square in search of a "boxstretcher." The man who owned the hardware store was in on the joke and would send them back to the supermarket, asking them "what size did they want?" The new kid could go back and forth a few times before he realized what was up!

My brother also used to tell me how crabby the "old ladies" were about their groceries... Now I know why they were so crabby! I wonder if that pleasant and intelligent-enough-looking kid yesterday went home and told his mom about the crabby old lady he had to bag groceries for (me -- all of 45 years old)! He was getting rough with my food yesterday and I thought of that Jurassic Park line where the Aussie said about the evil Raptors, "They remembah..." So I said to the kid, "Take care of my groceries; I will remember you." He looked a little spooked but I still ended up with utter chaos in my grocery cart when he was finished. I think he did his personal best but it was probably within the confines of "mentally challenged," even though he obviously wasn't.

So what can we call them? In Florida, maybe the "Blue (haired) Boxers?"

 

[Lisa in Katy]

We have all kinds of baggers - retired, mentally challenged, teenagers, non-English speaking, handicapped in other ways. I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I had a bad one. Some really like to talk, and I recently was "hit on" by a deaf man (in sign language, no less!). My biggest peeve is Wal-mart with 35 registers, but only 3 opened, and long lines at all. Of course, the checker also bags, which of course slows the lines down even more.

 

[Nancy]

In the stores where I live, you can go to the customer servvice counter and tell them what happened, and that would serve two pusposes they could re-educate the bagger and they will give you a reimbursement for your groceries which were damaged.

We have one bagger around here who is so worried about damaging any groceries, that she puts only one or two items in each bag. You should see the long line. I have learned to stay away from that line. But she means well.

Then there are those (mostly guys) who pack the bag like THEY were going to tote it, you know--about fifty pounds heavy with 5 pounds of flour, soda, milk and cans all in the same bag. I try to tell them that I cannot lift that much weight, and they accommodate my wishes.

Just have to keep an eye on things, and mention your wishes.

 

[Rain]

Biggest Pet Peeve

Biggest Pet Peeve

You know what makes me madder than smashed bread..... (That's a pretty good line!)

When the cashier or bagger is obviously sick. There they are coughing, sneezing and blowing their nose.... all the while touching every single item you?re purchasing!

Isn't there a law about people in the food industry working while sick? If there isn't ...there should be!!

 

[Georgia]

Bread, eggs, peaches, strawberries - all were created to provide a nice cushion for cans of tomato juice and large, leaky roasts.

I'm just grateful if I get home with everything I purchased - had to run back to the store last week for a bag that somehow didn't make it into my cart. I prefer to bag my own groceries.

 

[Marguerite53]

Well, my pet peeve is actually the really bad plastic bags that they try to jam tons of groceries (with sharp corners) into. Neil Young sums it up nicely in his song Piece of Crap. We were on a long road trip when we first played that song.....kids were 1st, 3rd and 5th graders. We laughed SO HARD at this song that my husband had to pull off the road because he couldn't see through the tears of laughter. And then we played it 2 more times to be sure we were hearing it all right!!! (probably had a lot to do with the kids' age)

Maybe you could download it and keep it in mind when you get frustrated.....as with so much......you are not alone in your frustration.

Marguerite

 

[lance]

Piece of crap lyrics?

Piece of crap lyrics?

Well, my pet peeve is actually the really bad plastic bags that they try to jam tons of groceries (with sharp corners) into. Neil Young sums it up nicely in his song Piece of Crap. We were on a long road trip when we first played that song.....kids were 1st, 3rd and 5th graders. We laughed SO HARD at this song that my husband had to pull off the road because he couldn't see through the tears of laughter. And then we played it 2 more times to be sure we were hearing it all right!!! (probably had a lot to do with the kids' age)

Maybe you could download it and keep it in mind when you get frustrated.....as with so much......you are not alone in your frustration.

Marguerite

Can you recite any of the lyrics?

 

[JimL]

"Piece Of Crap"

Tried to save the trees
Bought a platsic bag
The bottom fell out
It was a piece of crap

Saw it on the tube
Bought it on the phone
Now you're home alone
It's a piece of crap

I tried to plug in it
I tried to turn it on
When I got it home
It was a piece of crap

Got it from a friend
On him you can depend
I found out in the end
It was a piece of crap

I'm trying to save the trees
I saw it on TV
They cut the forest down
To build a piece of crap

I went back to the store
They gave me four more
The guy told me at the door
It's a piece of crap

 

[sue943]

We pack our own bags.

I like the system in my nearest supermarket, you put the items into your bags in the trolly (cart) and aim a gun at each bar code before you place the item in the bag. When you reach the checkout you just hand the gun to the checkout person and pay.

If you prefer to not check the items yourself you place the items on the conveyor belt then pack your own bags after the person on the cash register has scanned the item. No one is going to pack for you.

 

[Susan BAV]

Bread, eggs, peaches, strawberries - all were created to provide a nice cushion for cans of tomato juice and large, leaky roasts...

That had me howling, Georgia!

And the Neil Young lyrics - I could see a family with a carload of kids howling and in stitches over that!

Nancy - There are counters with "Customer Service" written above in nice big letters here, in Southern California, but this is a whole different planet (a bit like NYC in that way); and many of the stores here evidently never got the memo explaining what "customer service" even means. It's so much more fun to malign the anonymous grocery bagger here on this site among friends, than to stand in a customer service line at the store and explain to another employee who doesn't care, why I do.

That would just make me "madder than smashed bread," right Rain?! And that is another thing, cashiers and baggers with dripping noses! Ick, ick, ick!!! I often run hot soapy dishwater when I come home from the grocery store and wipe down some of my refrigerated items before they get to associate with my relatively clean fridge items.

Oh, and the Wal-Mart comment, Lisa -- I'd better not say what I think of them after what they did to most of the now-extinct but formerly nice little Mom and Pop stores in the little town near where my mother lives. There is apparently no longer free enterprise in that little town though.

 

[Susan BAV]

We pack our own bags. ...No one is going to pack for you.

There are some stores like that in the States too, Sue. They're often cash only stores. That experience can get a bit chaotic to me, especially if everyone else has been there before and they know what to do and I'm holding up the line because I don't know the routine.

I had to pick up a few items in a pharmacy in Frankfurt, Germany this past summer. It was an extremely hot day and the line was very long. It was during lunchtime break in the city and since I don't speak any German I wasn't going to make a peep except for a final "Danke" to the clerk. By the time I had the right Euros out to pay for my stuff, I could feel that I was clogging up their system. And then I had to put my change away and I suddenly realized that I needed to bag my items also. I flashed my best smile and said "Thank you very much," loudly in English so I could hopefully quell the unrest among the locals in line behind me...

And I didn't bag my things very well, either! I quickly shoved everything in one bag with total disregard of size, texture, or weight!

 

[KAJ]

Susan,

At least you were able to take your groceries home . My wife shops at the base commissary in Jacksonville. During her last two shopping trips she realized she came home without all of her groceries. The first time it was only a few items. The second time it was $65.00 worth of food. Fortunately left behind bags (more like not given to the customer) are inventoried. At the commissary, the baggers work only for tips. I told her she needs to start taking one of our kids along and have them make sure everything bagged gets put into the cart.

Karl