Testing Supermarket Bagger Competency
Dear Betty,
Who are these inept kids that bag my groceries at the supermarket? Shouldn’t there be some sort of competency test before you’re allowed to put a bag of potatoes and a dozen eggs into the same reusable bag?
– Crushed in Concord
If I ever open a food retail establishment, there will absolutely be a competency test for prospective checkers and baggers. The first question will be as follows:
A customer checks out with three reusable shopping bags. When bagging their refrigerated or frozen items (also known as “the cold stuff”), these should be placed into:
- Their insulated cooler bag.
- Their non-insulated bag.
- Neither. They should be double-bagged in store-provided paper or plastic.
If the prospective employee answers #3, they will be immediately referred for work elsewhere. Answering #2 will require remedial training.
The second question will involve a fundamental understanding of what happens to delicate and/or light things when placed under heavy things.
Also (and unrelated to bagging), I will absolutely insist that the cashier does not attempt to say the customer’s last name. A simple “thank you” goes a long way. Instead, what I normally get is this:
“Thank you Mrs. Bon… Bos… Bahhhhhhh… how do you pronounce your name? Really? Let me look at that again. Huh, I wouldn’t have guessed. What is that, French?”
I don’t want to have that conversation every time I need to buy milk, and I suspect that no one else does, either.
What’s your big supermarket peeve?
Tags: advice, bagging, competency, paper or plastic, reusable grocery bags, supermarket
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The name thing. Hate it, for the same reason you do. Fake familiarity from the checker is irritating. When they ask me how to pronounce my name I just ignore the question, take my receipt, smile and say thank you. I’m getting grumpy just thinking about it.
The thing that makes me laugh is that my mother used to be on a first name basis with everybody, everywhere. She knew their names, spouses, kids… so it only makes the butchered attempt at fake familiarity seem even weirder to me.
I guess I’m grocery store lucky because I never have issues with bagging and they don’t attempt my last name, which I always appreciate because, despite it’s completely phonetic spelling, no one ever gets it right. My only gripe about the grocery store has to do with congestion in the aisles caused by people texting while they’re shopping!