DP really embarrassed me today

[Doookie]

We were in the supermarket paying for our groceries and the lad behind the checkout handed up two carrier bags. After they had ran out we still had loads of stuff to pack away but he didn't offer anymore bags. DP said quite loudly "You not giving out anymore bags then?" so the lad replied "sorry no, they were my last ones and I was told once they've gone I have to sell the bags for life instead. They're only 5p, do you want one?". I was about to say I'd have two but DP flew into a rage about how pathetic it was and that he was going to complain. The lad ignored him mostly and carried on putting the shopping through but DP carried on, accussed the lad of keeping bags under the till to which the lad offered to show DP under his till (DP actually went around behind the till to check which was mortifying) and then carried on kicking off. At one point he said "Is Adolf Hitler running this place or what?" to which I seriously contemplated walking out. I was so embarrassed. DP then went and checked behind the neighbouring till whilst complaining loudly until people were staring at us. The lad then shouted across to another young till assistant "This is all because I have no more carrier bags" and they both started laughing. Out of sheer frustration, another employee came and dumped a load of carrier bags on the belt. I apologised to the lad and walked off as DP was instructing the staff to put up a clear sign at the entrance "warning" people that there are no carrier bags etc. We must have been a laughing stock. He knows I'm angry and has been pretty quiet since. I'm not over-reacting am I? Would you have been embarrassed or am I just a wimp? I dread to think what DD would have done if she'd been with us, she'd have never shopped with us again.

OP, your DH is a twat.

I'm at the point now of wanting every single person in the uk to do a 6 month stint as a shop worker. The abuse would stop pretty damn quickly!

"Is Adolf Hitler running this place or what?"

Yes, the Führer was well known for his robust "bag for life" stance.

I would have pissed myself laughing if a customer said that he would be forever nicknamed the bag twat

I knew it! I just knew Hitler was still alive.

I saw Himmler in a Tesco Metro in Cardiff in April. No word of a lie.

I'm not suggesting that the cashier gets up and demands to see management if that's what you're trying to get me to say. But I'm suggesting that a simple A2 sheet of paper with a short message in key places around the store would diffuse the rage. Are you telling me that if you got to the checkout with a full trolley load and were told no bags you'd be dancing the happy dance? Most people are ok as long as they know what's happening. If I walked into Tesco with no bags and saw a notice saying that they didn't have any either then I might only get the essential bread and milk that day, rather than spend 2 hours filling a trolley.

Of course I'm not advocating twattish behaviour, I think I said that, but there is something the stores could do, rather than hope people will say nothing and not notice.

i think he sounds really funny and stands up for what he believes in! people hardly do these days.

When I was at uni, I worked in a supermarket and if any customer had spoken to me the way your DH did, I'd have refused to serve him and called my manager over and if the situation did not calm down, he'd have been removed from the store by security. Checkout operators are not there to take abuse like that, your DH acted like a twat.

Which is exactly what the person in question didn't do. He should have called his manager over, that's what they're there for. Then the problem might have been sorted more quickly and with less fuss.

I think the supermarket's bag policy is stupid and the OP's dp is a dick

I feel sorry for the poor lad on the till who is the victim of both, and gets paid a joke wage for putting up with it

Yes he could have put his red light on and waited and waited ,while the customer got more abusive and the people behind him huffed and puffed .The ops husband should have never started banging on ,that would have been the quickest way to solve the problem

OP - I think your DP was seriously over the top. But I do agree with him over the whole bag issue.

I can't remember ever throwing out an empty carrier bag, I use them instead of bin bags. So when our local supermarket started charging, all that happened was I had to start buying binbags. Wow - that's really saved the environment .

Also, the supermarkets don't give a shit about the environment IMO - they want the money.

Once I was in M&S and I got the bag I keep in my handbag out to put my small number of food items in. I tried to force the pizza i'd bought into it, but it just wouldn't fit (too wide). The lady at the till made me pay 5p for a bag even though she could see I was trying to be environmentally friendly.

Plus in M&S you are allowed a free bag if you are buying non-food items, but not food items. Go figure!

your dh sounds like a total radge.an ott reaction

brightlight: I'm one of those who often forgets the Bags for life in the car, so I end up schlepping back out with 2 DDs in tow or buying more bags for life at the till (with the result that I have a massive stash of permanent bags shoved down the side of my tumble dryer at home).

Until your post, I never even thought about just chucking the stuff back in the trolley and packing it up at the car. It would be faster and I could then get the girls safely buckled in to their car seats while I packed, instead of trying to prevent them chucking things off the convyer belt for fun.

Total duh! moment for me, but thanks. Your post actually changed my life.

The lady in M&S made you pay 5p for a bag because that is what they cost, as clearly advised.

It wasn't a fine on your lack of environmentally friendliness! Do you normally expect free stuff from M&S?

As for using them as bin bags, that's great but most people just bin them.

5p for a bag hardly breaks the bank. What an oddly and uniquely British fight to pick 'we refuse to pay a minimal charge for bags and will argue our cases until the death'.

Your dh was rude, no question.

He could have politely expressed his dissatisfaction to the checkout operator, acknowledging that the lad would not be able to sort it out, but request that a manager be summoned. OR he could have just shrugged and done himself a favour and coughed up 10p or whatever for the bags for life.

If he over reacts at such minor trivialities, how on earth does he cope with real problems?

He needs to be regularly checked out by his GP imo, with such rage his BP may be high and he is at higher risk of certain illnesses. But hey, he got one over on the checkout lad.

So you reserve the right to be just as enivromentally unaware as them, to make a point?

Is this how we intend to save the planet - by refusing to change our own habits until others do - isn't that a bit short sighted?

The OP DS was totally out of order. The poor lad was only doing what he was told FFS! If you have a problem go to the Supervisors. That´s what they are there for. I hate it when people who have never had to serve the public treat workers like crap. There´s no need for it.

M&S does exactly that as far as I know - the 5ps all go to the Woodland Trust.

But that's an aside - why would they have to give the money to a charity? The point is that since placcy bags were invented, UK shoppers have had them for free and and now expect them for free, but really, they have no right to expect anything for free.

Aldi charge for their bags, as a low cost operation. Imo the gvt should just grow a pair and follow Irelands' lead by taxing bags as national policy becuase until they do we get this whining from people who simply don't want to change their habits and will come up with any convoluted excuse to be as wasteful as they like.

YANBU at all, embarrassing it was for you, it made my sides ache laughing. I personally would refuse to go shopping with him again. 5p for a bag for life is not that much at all

If supermarkets hadn't created a culture of free plastic bags galore, UK shoppers wouldn't expect bags for free.
+It's ridiculous to be lectured on the environment at the till, when the majority of packaging in the shop is a wasteful joke.

Now the supermarkets are being all precious about plastic bags, instead of taking the plunge of a no bag policy, which is exactly what they would implement, if they really believed in the issue. And they would provide their second hand cardboard boxes as an alternative.

Also, bags for life are still plastic bags aren't they? Supermarket make a further profit when they sell them, but it's ok because it's for the environment.

If the check-out guy hadn't been so rude and unhelpful. the DP wouldn't have kicked such a fuss, I should think.

I like a guy who is not cowered by ambient phony worthiness.