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Back Road BearsI just got home from the grocery store... I thought the 20 minute ride would calm me down but it hasn't.
The punk kid bagging my groceries paid absloutely no attention to what he was doing. He was literally looking around the store while his hands searched for food to toss in the bag. When that bag (plastic) was full he tossed it in my cart and did the same thing over again.
He paid no attention to the fact he put a package of hamburg on the bottom of the bag and tossed boxes of stuff on top. He put bags of frozen veggies on top of more boxes of food. Then he put a bag of cookies in an empty bag and proceeded to toss in cans of soup. I rescued the bananas from the cashier's hands before they became mush. But I didn't save my freshly ground coffee from going in a bag with bath soap!
So, I now have a broken open package of hamburg, cardboard boxes of pasta that are soggy from the perspiration off the frozen brocolli bags. The cookies are luckily ok but I can just imagine what my coffee is going to taste like.
I was too ticked to go find the manager. I don't like confrontation, get all shaky and fumble with my words. besides, this kid has been working there for a couple of months now.... this is the second time he's bagged my groceries the exact same way. he must treat everyone's food the same yet he still has a job so would the manager even care? Am I just being anal? Is it wrong to want to be able to EAT the food I bring home?
I'm just glad I didn't buy eggs!
The last time this happened we filed a complaint online and promptly received a standard email: "We are sorry for your experience at your local (store name). The store manager has been advised. Please use the enclosed gift certificate towards your next purchase."
I don't want a gift certificate.... I want them to train the baggers on how to do their job and show a little respect towards the customers and the money they spent on food. The whole thing just REALLY ticks me off. How hard is it to keep cold items together, crushables away from heavy items and non-food items in a separate bag???? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
I was a bagger when I was in high school... it's really not that hard. And we had a week of training BEFORE we could touch a customer's groceries. Then were supervised for like another week while on the line.
Thank you............. I had to get that off my chest!
Hi Daphne,
Grrrrrr! I know just how you feel and it makes you so angry that they do not have the sense to pack
your groceries, how they should be.
As you say it is not a hard job.... and to pack all the heavy things at the bottom and lighter on top.
I would be going back to management again and ask them to train their staff - a gift certificate is not
what you want but to have the job done as it should be.
Good luck and I sure hope that the kid gets the training, so you do not have this sort of thing happen again.
Hugs
Carolyn
LutonWell I would say "no Thank you, I would rather pack them myself !!!"
At the end of the day a bit of confrontation in life is a must.
You rarely get your bags packed in this country and so they tend to throw your stuff down the conveyor belt and then just sit there while you struggle to pack everything quickly so they can serve the next customer.
I just take my time and when everything is packed and in the trolley - then I pay the cashier, so they can either help or sit and wait.
he he he!!!
Claire
Strange BearsOOOOHHHHH Daphne I've had the same experience but being of a more volatile temperament I proceeded to inform the idiot that the only job he was capable of was acting in as a Neanderthal in B grade movies.......and then he'd have trouble learning his lines which would consist of "Grunts". Another time I very calmly and nicely, took over the job of packing my own gracies and lecturing him, as a mother, the whole time on how to do the job properly. Finally the manager arrived to find out what the hold up on the line was so I proceeded to lecture HIM on his duties as a mananger and informed him his staff should be properly trained.
I have proceeded to do this 2 more times......apparently I now have a rep at our local store, another mother at the school works there, I am apparently pointed out to new staff and thery are told to pack properly for me or suffer the consequences.........the Manager doesn't like to be lectured in the middle of the store apparently...... and the offending staff memner who draws my attention so that the manager suffers one of lectures is severly dealt with ..by the manager. :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Newcastle, OntarioDaphne,
My hubby and daughter are asst. managers of HUGE grocery stores and he says you should ask to see the manager while the bags are still on the counter. He should be willing to come down and go through the bags and look at the way things are packed. You shouldn't feel like it's conflict - you paid for your groceries and they should be handled with care or the packer should be immediately corrected. It someone doesn't point this out to supervision, he is only going to continue on the way he has. He says this guy needs to learn to package things correctly or be taken off the checkouts OR even dismissed if he continues. Your day should not be ruined by this schmuck! There - straight from the horses mouth LOL! (Did I tell you Neil's nickname at the store is the "shirt nazi"! He constantly goes around telling all the kids to tuck in their shirts! He is anal about how his store is run and the image his staff gives. He is now acting manager as his manager has been transfered to another store temporarily and their store sales are up 24 % over last year. Did I tell you I wouldn't work for him for a million dollars! :crackup: :crackup:
hugs,
Brenda
Matilda Huggington-beareDaphne, when it comes to my groceries I tell them off. I have and will take things from there very hands and publicly bawl them out for being so careless. We dont normally get bag boys. The cashier packs our groceries. Most are great. Since we now use are own shopping bags, I dictate what I want put in and how it is too be put in.
I know I sound like a complete witch but honestly I do it with a smile and with lots of humour.
I would have rescued my hamburger mince. I would also have called to him to pay attention to the job at hand.
Instead of dreaming about get layed. 
You should'nt think of the situation as being confrontational. If you had been assertive it would have changed the whole dynamics of the situation.
I do feel for you possum. :hug: I know we are'nt always able to do what we want in some situations. :hug:
I have special bags for my groceries. I have a foiled chiller bag for my fronzen goods and a special bag for fruit and veg. I leave the meat last for the cashier to total. Then there are'nt usually that many mix ups.
Delartful BearsI agree with everyone, either pack em yourself, or tell em how you want them packed! That is the only way to come home with your groceries in OK condition!
Annoying though isn't it, but I don't think it's too much to expect them to pack it all properly when you're paying for the goods!
Danni
Back Road BearsI am so glad I'm not the only one that gets so annoyed by this!!
Sandy, I wish you'd been there with me today! I did finally tell him he wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing, that his job was right here bagging my food, not where ever else his attention was drawn to. And I showed him the cookies under the soup cans. What does he do? Put the cookies on TOP of the soup cans, still in the same bag and plastic bags, when put in the back of an SUV don't tend to hold their shape. Anyway, he didn't seem to care much about what I said and the lady behind me says to him as I'm walking away "Honey, you pack my groceries anyway you like."
Brenda, I'm shopping at Neil's store from now on, I don't care how far I have to drive!!!
Country BearsBlimey you what to come and live here, you're lucky to get a smirk, let alone your bags packed for you!!! :doh:
I'm usually having to do that trying to control 2 kids (yes even THAT one!!) = TOTAL NIGHTMARE!!! And I usually just get 'tuts' from others in the store!! NIGHTMARE!!!! 
Even if we did get that service, I would still be the same as you though Daphne, I hate confrontations, I always think about what I SHOULD have said, about an hour after the event!! 
Does my head in!!! :hug: :hug:
BrisbaneThe chckout girls/boys bag our groceries over here, while they are scanning them...surprisingly on the whole I've fpound them to be quite good, never the less I watch them like a hawk and when I see the bread heading towards the can bag I let out a shriek..."oh no don't put that in there!!!!"....they only ever try it once!! :crackup:
Posts: 1,836This one CRACKS me up. I don't care who is bagging..15 or 95, male female or the top pro-bagger in the country (they have competitions yah know!) I ALWAYS bag my own. Most times we use the self check out line now, but if we can't get in one I always just plain out say right off "I'll bag my own if that's ok". I grew up with my mom always complaining about the same thing..."I spent an hour putting groceries into my cart and I took garbage out of the bag at home" was/is her saying. Tonight I bought a few bags of lollipops left over from Halloween. The kid full out whacked the bags down on the counter after scanning..I quickly smiled and said "If I had wanted rock candy I could've done that move myself" (still smiling with just a smidge of sarcasm... and he got my point)
This is also why I don't eat out. We have one restaurant we go to on Fridays..it 2 guys who own it and cook..the staff old and young are great. Outside of that place I wouldn't trust any food in this country or anywhere else provided by the hands of teens. As we walked out of our restaurant tonight the kids (working at) Dominos pizza across the street were running around, laughing and full out girly-boy flirting with each other whilst making food. The mangers are only 1-2 years older than the kids goofing off, so who's making sure your food is ok? Gross.
:hug:
~Chrissi
Newcastle, OntarioI agree with you Toby - if we don't let then know what they are doing wrong, it won't be corrected - plain and simple. When I was first married, I would never say anything if I had bad service etc. but now I do.
Daphne, everytime we go into a grocery store and see kids fooling around etc, Neil will bark at them like he is their manager LOL! You should see them jump, because they know if they don't, he is the likely sort that would complain to the real manager :crackup:
He's only been in this area since January and his big bosses are already getting the picture and threatening to transfer him to other stores that have BIG problems, now that he has the sales up so well in his store. His staff that are good workers love him, as he will bend over backwards to accomodate them if they need special time off etc. The staff that don't like to work properly hate him, because he will ride their a$$ all day long. He likes everything done "yesterday" and I'm the really slow but perfect type. It's much easier being married to him than working for him :crackup:
hugs,
Brenda
Cleathero CreationsWell we don't have bag people, the cashiers do them.
I put them on the conveyor belt the way I want them packed and woe to anyone who tries any different. i am gentle with the new ones but if they have been there ages well they are a target then.
I used to pack so I am not a total idiot but common sense should telly you cold wet things do not belong with dried goods.
And for the woman who stated pack them any way you like, well I would tell her that I prefer my food edible, as dogs may not care that their food is ruined but I certainly do being a PERSOn!
oooh I have a pet peeve.
Laurie Lou BearsAs my trolley is always full to the top I get asked if I need help packing and I usually say no as I always have my children with me and my eldest help unload the trolley and pack the shopping and they know not to squash the bread or bruise the bananas and pack the heavy things together and put them at the bottom of the trolley so the lighter stuff gets put on the top.If hubby comes though thats a different story-men always have to be reminded each and every time how to pack as they seem to forget by the next time you go shopping. :doh:
The only pet hate is I get two newspapers on a Saturday- one for us and one for our 95 year old neighbours and every week they say to me "do you know you have two newspapers" aaaahhhh.
Laurie :hug:
sault ste marieBrenda your hubby doesn,t happen to work for Wal Mart by chance does he we have terrible cashiers who are also the baggers good lord help us all !!! Thank goodness i work there and when they see me they know not to do that kinda stuff with my bags i will freak 
lol
Hugs Tynna
Back Road BearsIt's so nice to see I'm not the only one! :dance:
I've come home from the grocery store wanting to gripe about this to you before but hesitated as my hubby thinks I'm way to critical and picky so I thought maybe it was just me.
You have no idea how relieved I am that its not me. Men are just clueless!
From now on I'm just going to pack it myself. If the store manager doesn't like the fact that he sees a customer bagging when they have 'staff' to do that let him come over to find out what's going on. I'll be sure to be ready with an earful for him! :twisted:
Posts: 3,540Not all men are clueless...you should see my hubby go postal over some of the bagging boys !! No kidding, he's got a temper, and rightly uses it at times. Mostly we shop at our local grocery store, and if the women are clerking, the bag boys are doing it right. If its a two teen boy team, we can expect things to get truly sloppy...and its amazing how much a little plastic bag will hold when a teen boy is chucking things! I think the women checkers by nature are motherly, though, and the boys get a good telling off when they're on the job. Oddly when I tried to do my own bagging one night to help the clerk, I was told they aren't allowed to let the customers bag.... weird! So I let her line get bogged down whilst she bagged 
The absolute *worst* has to be the night I went to Walmart, and the checker tried to shove DRANO into the same bag as my food!!! When I pitched a hissy fit, insisting she get that out NOW, she removed the Drano, put it into another plastic bag (scowling the whole time) and then tried to shove the same plastic bag back in with the groceries!!!?? Honestly! "Dense" springs to mind.....
Newcastle, OntarioTynna,
No, hubby doesn't work for Walmart - he despises them for the way the company treats their staff. He works for Loblaws and my daughter works for Canadian Superstore - her store is over 155,000 square feet! I'm sure it would be a dream of his to re-work a Walmart store LOL!
hugs,
Brenda
Chaska, MinnesotaDaphnie: When I was young I was intimidated and avoided confrontation. The older I get the more I won't take things lying down. Today, I would have stopped the boy and give him a crash course on how I want my food packed. If he does not listen. I will call a manager over. I don't like getting people in trouble so I try to coach first. If it still is bad, off I go to find a manager.
Sorry you had a bad day. Please speak up the next time. Good managers want to know about these things so they can coach their employees to do a better job.
Michelle
Bears by JodiBoy I can't stand bad baggers either, I have been tempted to do it my self and as a matter a fact I have before. Yes and even I can do it better !! I don't like bloody meat next to items that will soak it up , it just is terrible to go through this. Next time tell them you want to do it and maybe they will learn something. And the person who does the training may notice, and learn !
